DP World’s London Gateway launches awareness offensive

   Dubai-based global container terminal operator DP World has launched a major shipper-awareness and confidence-raising campaign in the UK ahead of the October 2013 opening of a new deepwater London Gateway terminal, located in the River Thames 25 miles from the center of London.
   Following shipper and other cargo-interest events in Manchester and London, it addressed shippers from the northeast UK at a gathering in Leeds Thursday. Commercial Director Charles Meaby revealed his management team and rail intermodal operators already knew (but could not say) the name of the first vessel which would call, and that rail franchise pathways had been fixed to inland depots across the UK.
   These include a full spread of inland Freightliner facilities already linked to the ports of Southampton, Felixstowe, Tilbury and Thamesport. Also, DB Schenker Rail UK has contracted with DP World to operate four services, five days a week, to its depot in Wakefield, compensating for Felixstowe’s closer distance from the north east. Freightliner also has depots in Leeds and Doncaster to which customers can either book full trains or slots. 
   The new terminal will have a fully automated stacking area and the largest on-dock rail facility in the UK, as well as a 9 million square foot logistics park. The Thames is being dredged by DP World to 16.5 meters in an outer channel, 14.5 meters in an inner one, and 17 meters depth alongside the berth. Phase I will see the installation of five dual-hoist ship-shore gantry cranes, capable of handling the ‘next’ generation of ultra-large vessels at maximum efficiency. – Francis Phillips