UK minister confirms DP World to invest in London Gateway

DP World/UK/X

• Threat of boycott over
• UK minister criticised P&O Ferries
• DP World attending summit

Dubai’s DP World will invest £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in its London Gateway port, business minister Jonathan Reynolds has confirmed.

“The investment is going ahead,” business minister Jonathan Reynolds told Sky News after media reports suggested that DP World executives had threatened to boycott the International Investment Summit on October 14 and refrain from investing in the London Gateway project.

DP World is attending the summit, the minister confirmed.

Bloomberg reported that DP World chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem will attend the event.

The boycott threat came after the UK’s deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and transport secretary Louise Haigh criticised P&O Ferries, which was purchased by DP World in 2019.

“Following constructive and positive discussions with the government, we have been given the clarity we need. We look forward to participating in Monday’s International Investment Summit,” Bloomberg reported, quoting a DP World statement.

In August DP World launched a new berth at London Gateway Port, making the facility the UK’s largest seaport.

The port, which currently handles 2.4 million containers, will expand its capacity to 3.4 million with the opening of berth 4.

The new investment will add two more berths and increase capacity by 50 percent, Bloomberg said.

The expansion, subject to building and environmental approvals, needs land to be reclaimed along the Thames to add a fifth berth, which will be ready in three years, a second rail terminal, and then a sixth berth, the news agency said.

DP World operates in 34 locations across the UK, employing 6,000 people. The completion of the logistics park at London Gateway will double the number to 12,000.