London Gateway

DP World London Gateway is a fully integrated logistics facility, comprising a semi-automated, deep-sea container terminal on the same site as the UK's largest land bank for development of warehousing, distribution facilities and ancillary logistics services.The facility is located on the north bank of the River Thames in Thurrock, Essex, 30 miles (48 km) east of central London. The deep-water port opened in November 2013 and is able to handle the biggest container ships in the world. The port is now linked on a weekly-basis with 51 countries and more than 90 ports all over the world, including Asia, Australia, the USA, South America, Africa, India and southern Europe.Undertaken by DP World, the new facility is significantly increasing the capabilities and efficiencies of the Port of London in handling container shipping, to help meet the growing demand for container handling at Britain's ports. Construction began in February 2010, with the port and logistics park being completed in stages. So far, development of three berths has been completed with potential for the development of three more. The first phase of the port opened for business on 6 November 2013 with the docking of the 58,000-tonne MOL Caledon, loaded with fruit and wine from South Africa.Development of the Logistics Park has followed the initial stages of development of the port. UPS is developing a 32,000 square metre package sorting facility on the site - one of the American firm's largest ever infrastructure investments outside of the USA. Since March 2017, German grocery retailer Lidl has been operating out of the DP World London Gateway Logistics Centre, the first warehouse to be developed on the site.