Works start at new London Gateway port

Major work starts today at DP World London Gateway, the UK’s new deep sea port and logistics park, situated 25 miles east of Central London on the River Thames.  To mark the occasion, Shahid Malik MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government, is visiting the 1,500-acre site.
The works will include dredging and reclaiming land from the Thames Estuary to allow the world’s largest container ships to bring consumer goods closer to the point of consumption than existing major national deep water ports.  By reducing the transportation required to move goods across the UK, transport planners predict some 65 million road miles will be saved in the UK every year, equivalent to some 2,000 trucks per day off the national road network. This equals some 148,000 tonnes of CO2 that can be saved every year.

Shahid Malik MP said: “Not only will London Gateway help keep traffic off the roads and reduce vehicle emissions, it will provide thousands of jobs for people living across the region.  

“In the coming years more than 35,000 people will be employed in and around the port, an investment by DP World which represents the single largest jobs creation project in the UK today and its continued confidence in the opportunities the Thames Gateway offers.”

Simon Moore, CEO of London Gateway, said: “We are creating a world-class shipping lane, which will allow the world’s largest container ships to dock alongside one of Europe’s largest logistics parks. Our aim is to ensure the distribution of goods becomes more efficient and environmentally friendly. We are now in discussions with potential occupiers for the London Gateway Logistics Park as well as shipping lines for the port and look forward to working with them to improve the way we move products for both importers and exporters.”

London Gateway will now be exhibiting at Multimodal 2010, the national freight transportation and logistics exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham in April where it will be releasing new information about the project. 

Owned and operated by DP World, London Gateway will provide the UK with its first 21st Century deep-sea container port integrated with over 9 million square feet of logistics space for the distribution, manufacturing and high-tech sectors. The port, which will be one of the most automated and efficient in the world, will add an additional 3.5million TEU (twenty foot equivalent units) to the UK’s port capacity.
 

(Source: Transport Weekly)