Ports operator DP World will invest another $1 billion in the London Gateway project over the next three years, it said Tuesday, adding the new port center will be operational by the fourth quarter of 2013. The world's largest port operator said the under-construction port will have an initial capacity of 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). The London Gateway, located about 25 miles from central London, is funded by the Dubai-based operator and is planned to be a 1.5-billion-pound deep-sea container port incorporating Europe's largest logistics park. The port operator also awarded four port equipment contracts, which includes a partnership with Cargotec for port automation. Cargotec said separately that the project size is around 100-150 million euros. DP World said the London Gateway project will create 1,000 new jobs – 700 in construction jobs and 300 in the facility. The operator, which completed its secondary limiting on the London Stock Exchange earlier this year, reported a four-fold increase in its first-half profits as it booked gains from the sale of its Australian port operations last year. Recently, DP World won the coveted Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award at the Lloyd's List Global Awards 2011 in London. The judges cited DP World's initiatives aimed at developing port communities and building health infrastructure in many of the countries in which it operates, and its efforts to help find a solution to the problem of piracy. In April, DP World co-convened, along with UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first ever public-private counter-piracy conference, highlighting that long term onshore community projects in areas that are prime recruiting grounds for pirates are vital to any comprehensive solution to the problem of maritime piracy. DP World donated $100,000 to the UN Counter Piracy Trust Fund.
