Senior officials of DP World hailed the company’s London Gateway, which is now commercially open, having welcomed its first scheduled vessel, the MOL Caledon from South Africa. 

DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said DP World was pleased to contribute to the UK economy by building and operating a state-of-the-art modern infrastructure that will support trade growth far into the future. “This is the first port to be built in the UK in a generation and there is nothing else like this in the country,” he said.

The operator’s vice chairman Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah highlighted the importance of the logistics park adjacent to the port. He said: “London Gateway’s logistics park is Europe’s largest and will save companies hundreds of millions of pounds every year from business costs by removing a whole step in UK supply chains.”

The deep-sea port’s facilities allow British exporters and importers a more efficient way to ship globally at less cost.

London Gateway is located closer to major population centres of London, Birmingham and Manchester than other ports that are capable of handling the world’s biggest ships. The new port will reduce transport costs for exporters and importers by reducing millions of trucking miles from supply chains.

The port also provides 21st century infrastructure for shipping lines that are building bigger ships. DP World, a leading global port operator with more than 65 marine terminals across six continents, including new developments, built Britain’s new port for today’s and the next generation of ships. Known as ‘ultra large container ships’ (ULCS), they are up to 400 m long and can carry over 18,000 shipping containers.

The first scheduled ship to dock at the port, operated by MOL Liner, received exports and delivered containers carrying a variety of cargo, including fruit and automotive parts, which were distributed across the country. The MOL Caledon is part of the South African Europe Container Service (SAECS) which is made up of a consortium of shipping lines including MOL, Maersk, DAL and Safmarine.

Freight trains moved cargo to the midlands and further afield from London Gateway’s new rail terminal.  Over 30 per cent of the containers moving through the port are planned to go by rail. The state-of-the-art terminal can handle the longest trains in the UK. DB Schenker Rail UK and Freightliner are both providing rail services to the new port.

The MOL Caledon was also welcomed by Mohammed Sharaf, DP World group CEO, Junichiro Ikeda, chairman of MOL Liner, and shipper representatives JFH Hillebrand managing director David Mawer and Chingford Fruit managing director Gavin McNally, together with other senior executives.

Ikeda said: “We believe that the new port through its modern facilities and convenient links to the business community will provide us the perfect platform to continue the efficient and reliable services MOL is committed to offering its UK customers.”