8 T


Issue 6 2011


London Gateway to open in late 2013


he first phase of the new London Gateway port and


logistics hub will open in the fourth quarter of 2013, DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayen told invited guests at the Essex site on 4 October. The initial phase of what could eventually be


in deepsea freight. He pointed out, also: “The vast majority of the UK’s container traffic passes through ports in south-east England but the region only has 10% of the country’s warehousing. London Gateway will reconnect the capital with the world.”


Simon Moore: New port will reconnect London to the world


the UK’s largest transport complex will comprise three container berths capable of taking the world’s largest containerships – 18,000teu – a rail link, container stack and associated logistics park. However, the port will ultimately, in about ten years’ time, consist of a total of seven berths, six of which would be for container vessels. Initially, London Gateway


would have a capacity of 1.6m teu a year, rising to around 3.5m teu on completion. The DP World chairman said


that the model for the port would be the Jebel Ali port and associated freezone - admittedly on a smaller scale – and would fundamentally change the way goods were moved in and out of the UK. The project had been a long time in the making, he added, pointing out that P&O first mooted the idea of a container port on the former Shell Haven refinery over a decade ago. London Gateway CEO Simon


Moore said that London Gateway would offer the UK’s first custom- built global port and distribution centre and would end the practice of London-bound goods being trucked from Felixstowe or the South Coast to distribution centres in the Midlands, only to be then moved south again to reach the end consumer. The new port could save around 65 million road miles a year, he said. Later, in an interview with


FBJ, Simon Moore expanded on the new port’s appeal. “It will be Europe’s biggest logistics park and unique in Europe.” Its appeal would be primarily to companies involved


Discussions had already taken


place with several shipping lines, Simon Moore added. Rail operators had also


committed to provide services from London Gateway to the UK’s main inland intermodal terminal, he said. He also pointed out that the High Speed 1 rail line – which recently carried its first regular freight service – also runs close to the port. Another major attraction was the port of Tilbury with its wide range of short-sea services. Secretary of State for Business


Dr Vince Cable described the new development as a big step forward in infrastructure development,


In an interview with FBJ,


Shipping Minister Mike Penning praised DP World’s tenacity in developing London Gateway. “I think at one stage there was a chance that this project would not be going ahead, and it wouldn’t have done if the developers had listened to the doom-mongers.” He predicted that the new port would stimulate the market for ports capable of handling very large containerships – the port of Felixstowe had a few days previously unveiled its own new berths capable of handling the world’s very largest ships. However, whether other ports would create similar facilities would be for the market to decide, Mr Penning said. He added that in his days as


an Essex fireman he had fought fires at the old refinery on several occasions. DPW also signed contracts with


Cargotec for 40 Kalmar automatic stacking cranes with related technology and 28 Kalmar shuttle carriers, a project valued at around EUR €100-150 million, and with ZPMC contracted to provide the rail-mounted craneage. The highly automated container yard will be able to operate during higher wind speeds than any other comparable facility in the UK, added a port spokesman.


that the old one can be dismantled. The existing rail link into the site, which originally served the oil refinery and terminal, will be doubled and will be expected to handle around 30% of the new port’s container movements. DPW has also undertaken to add more road capacity than its operations will generate. The existing A1014 Manorway dual carriageway will be improved, although it is currently underutilised since the oil refinery closed. There have also been extensive


environmental works, including creation of new wetland areas and relocation of hundreds of thousands of creatures to new wildlife areas. The site will also be extensively flood-protected. At the recent Waterfront


Interactive Symposium on Intermodal Freight Transport, David Baker of Baker Rose Consulting argued that the London Gateway concept was broadly correct in creating an intermodal “decoupling point” right in the middle of the major South-east England consuming region. Too oſten in the past, he said, intermodal terminals had been sited in places where it was easy to get planning permission but which were not not logical in supply chain terms.


///NEWS


Happy times in Felixstowe...


T


he Port of Felixstowe formally opened its new deep water


shipping terminal on 28 September. The two-berth terminal (8&9) is the first stage of a £1 billion-plus investment programme - and is currently the only facility in the UK capable of handling the largest container ships currently on order. It will be equipped with seven of the largest container cranes in the world, able to manage ships with containers stowed 24-wide on deck. Chief executive officer of


Felixstowe’s operator, HPUK, David Gledhill, commented: “As container


ships get larger it is crucial ports like Felixstowe stay ahead of the game and ensure the UK is ready for the introduction of the next generation of container ships. Failure to provide facilities would mean the world’s most efficient ships could not dock in the UK, driving up the cost of imports and making UK exports less competitive.” As part of the project the port will


construct a third rail terminal in 2012 with capacity for 30-wagon long trains. It will be the longest terminal of its type in the UK and will double rail terminal capacity at the port.


...unworried by new competition


I f port of Felixstowe people are much concerned about the


competitive threat from London Gateway, they refused to let it show. A spokesman for the Hutchison-owned port said: “We are still very confident that Felixstowe offers the most attractive proposition to shipping lines, importers and exporters.” The Suffolk gateway’s advantages,


he extolled, include “the shortest and simplest marine approach, and the shortest deviation for ships going to or from the north-west confident. Any ship heading for London Gateway would have to sail past my office window.” The web of onward connections


from Felixstowe are currently unrivalled and would be very hard for any new competitor to replicate, at least in the short term. At the time of writing, there were 29 return rail services to and from the port – expected to be increased to 30 early in the new year - and further services can be expected during 2012 when a third rail terminal doubles on-dock rail capacity. The new terminal will be able to handle 30-wagon trains, the longest of its kind in the country. The Port of Felixstowe recently


an area in which the UK had been lagging behind its major competitors. It would bring a major container terminal close to one of Europe’s biggest markets and would create around 6,000 jobs directly and another 10,000 in associated industries.


Meanwhile, one of the biggest


dredging projects in Europe will provide space for ships up to 400m long, along with construction of a new quay wall – 350 metres have been built to date and it is growing at an average of 6m a day. An existing fuel jetty will also be relocated so


As Rail Freight Group policy


manager Maggie Simpson told the same gathering, there has a history in the UK of siting intermodal terminals not where the logistics industry actually wanted them, but “to suit anyone that happened to have a field with a railway in it”.


set a new rail record, handling 11,019 containers (16,846teu) in a single week. The previous record of 10,893 units was achieved in May 2011. It follows a number of track and equipment improvements made over the past three years, including a 39-metre extension of the South Rail Terminal to accommodate 22-wagon trains, a major line refurbishment of the same terminal in 2008/9, and two new rail- mounted gantry cranes in 2010. Few other ports can rival


Felixstowe in terms of coastal shipping links. “There is no other port with that critical mass at the moment,” the spokesman continued. Road access to Felixstowe is also good – less congested, the spokesman ventured, than its new rival just off the M25. He continued: “Felixstowe will


continue to offer all those advantages. We’re market leader for good reasons.” London Gateway may have a


trump card in the sheer amount of distribution space available, but he questioned whether that alone would be enough to attract large deepsea ships. In fact, he could envisage a situation whereby goods were warehoused in London Gateway but the ships continued to call in Felixstowe. Also, turning the environmental


argument on its head, Felixstowe argues that using the world’s biggest ships plus coastal feeders or rail to final destination are just about as carbon-free as it gets when it comes to greening the supply chain. Meanwhile, let it not be forgotten


that Felixstowe is the only UK port with berths (8 & 9) capable of handling next-generation containerships of up to 18,000teu. Beyond that, the Bathside Bay site across the estuary in Harwich is fully consented and could add a further 2m teu capacity. While people are naturally excited


at the prospect of the gleaming new port at London Gateway, when all Felixstowe/Harwich’s planned expansion is complete, it will be an 8m teu a year port – more than double London Gateway’s maximum extent.


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