DP World reversed its decision to pull out of a UK government investment summit and is announcing a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) investment in its London Gateway port.
DP World Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem will stick with the original plan to be part of the event.
Executives at the Dubai-based port operator and logistics giant were angered by comments from Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Transport Secretary Louise Haigh over an incident from March 2022 involving P&O Ferries, which DP World bought in 2019.
Since DP World’s 11th-hour withdrawal from the conference was reported, Prime Minister Keir Starmer walked back some of the criticism by ministers about the employment practices at P&O.
The investment, which DP World had placed under review, was formally announced in the statement.
London Gateway, located about 30 miles east of central London, currently has three berths to handle the world’s biggest container vessels, with a fourth set to open within weeks. The investment would add two more berths, increasing capacity by 50% and bringing DP World’s total employment there to 1,600 from 1,200.
The expansion at London Gateway would put the facility on track to dethrone Felixstowe as the UK’s busiest container facility by 2030. The Dubai-based company has already invested £2 billion into the site since it started operations 11 years ago.
The latest expansion plan, subject to building and environmental approvals, would require land to be reclaimed along the Thames to add a fifth berth slot to open in about three years, a second rail terminal, and a sixth berth after that.
In an interview conducted before the squabble with Downing Street, Schulze added, “we have a lot of confidence in the UK economy.”
Most of London Gateway’s volumes are imports, and there’s an adjacent logistics park that’s about half full to its capacity of 10 million square feet of warehouse, distribution, and manufacturing space. Companies there range from DHL and United Parcel Service Inc. to food supplier Compagnie Fruitière UK, which operates one of the country’s largest banana ripening facilities.
DP World opened the port in 2013, betting on a strategy where companies want their logistics operations adjacent to a deep-sea port and inland rail connections. That’s an alternative to a large concentration of warehousing and distribution centers — dubbed the “golden triangle” — in the Midlands region of the UK, around Birmingham.
London Gateway is a UK freeport site, which enables it to offer tenants tax incentives and customs support.
