by Lloyd's List

14 October 2024 (Lloyd's List) - LOGISTICS giant DP World has confirmed a £1bn investment in its London Gateway port as it seeks to make the port the UK’s biggest by the end of the decade.

Two new berths will be built at the site, which is located about 30 miles east of central London. That will take the total number of berths to six and will mean the port can welcome six containerships, each more than 400 metres long, when work is completed by 2030.

A second rail terminal will be added to the site to deal with the anticipated increased volume and an extra 400 jobs are expected to be created at the site, DP World said.

Throughput at London Gateway will be “significantly” increased from the current volume of 2.8m teu per year, according to the logistics giant.

DP World chief executive Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said he was “proud of this major investment which underlines DP World’s long-term commitment to the UK”.

But the investment hung in the balance at one point during the weekend after comments made by the UK Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh.

Haigh called P&O Ferries, a DP World company, a “rogue operator” in an interview with UK broadcaster ITV, after the company controversially sacked 800 seafarers and replaced them with foreign workers in 2022.

The secretary of state said she had been boycotting P&O Ferries since then and “encourage consumers to do the same”.

As a result, UK media outlets reported that DP World may pull out of the UK’s inaugural International investment Summit, where it was going to announce the London Gateway investment.

After intervention from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said Haigh’s comments were “not the view of the government”, DP World confirmed Sulayem would attend the summit.

“Following constructive and positive discussions with the UK Government, we have been given the clarity we need. We look forward to participating in Monday’s International Investment Summit,” a spokesperson for DP World said.