London Gateway launches new £350m fourth berth with arrival of first ships

DP World is celebrating the operational launch of the world’s first all-electric berth with the arrival of its first ships, marking a significant milestone at one of the UK’s most sustainable and advanced logistics hubs. The MSC Sena was serviced by an innovative all-electric fleet of vehicles and equipment at London Gateway, including four of Europe’s largest quay cranes, straddle carriers, and automatic stacking cranes, establishing a new global benchmark for low-carbon shipping facilities. The new 430m berth will increase trading capacity at the container port by more than a third, strengthening customer supply chains with enhanced global connectivity, increased reliability, and quicker turnaround times.

The opening of the berth has added a further 200 permanent jobs at London Gateway, which is a part of Thames Freeport, and will play a key role in DP World’s plan for the site to have the UK’s largest container port by trading volume within five years. Last month at the UK Government’s International Investment Summit, DP World announced a GBP1bn investment for the construction of its fifth and sixth berths to further enhance the container port’s handling capacity and contribution to the UK economy. Ernst Schulze, Chief Executive Officer for Ports & Terminals at DP World in the UK, said: “The arrival of the first ship at our new all-electric fourth berth is a huge landmark for DP World’s ambitions in the UK.

We have already invested more than GBP2bn in the building of our modern and efficient facility at London Gateway in the last decade, connecting the UK with global supply chains and export markets. This new berth, alongside our GBP1bn investment in the fifth and sixth berths, will further enable us to service the largest vessels in operation worldwide today, and the larger, future megaships currently under construction, while also advancing our goal to be net-zero by 2050. “At London Gateway and across our UK operations, we are quickly building a unique array of assets and end-to-end supply chain capabilities, helping our customers stay competitive in a fast-changing trading environment, while serving the national interest.”

The new berth will operate alongside the London Gateway Logistics Park, which has 9.25 million sq. ft of warehousing capacity, half of which is already developed, and multimodal connectivity to domestic and international road and rail networks.

In addition to its hubs at Southampton and London Gateway, DP World’s offer includes logistics, forwarding and European transport capabilities, all of which are being integrated into the company’s global network.

Operating in 78 countries, DP World handles 10 per cent of world trade.