DP World has officially launched 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 important shipping hubs.
MSC Sena was serviced by an all-electric fleet of vehicles and equipment at London Gateway, including four of Europe’s largest quay cranes, straddle carriers, and automatic stacking cranes. The new 430m berth is expected to 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.
Last month at the UK Government’s International Investment Summit, DP World announced a GB£1 billion (US$1.3 billion) investment for the construction of its fifth and sixth berths to enhance the container port’s handling capacity.
Ernst Schulze, CEO for Ports & Terminals at DP World in the UK, commented: “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 GB£2 billion (US$2.6 billion) in building 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 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.”
The new berth will operate alongside the London Gateway Logistics Park, which has 860,000 m² of warehousing capacity, half of which is already developed, and multimodal connectivity to domestic and international road and rail networks.
