DP World and Thames Freeport have completed a £13 million training and innovation centre at London Gateway, a facility designed to produce roughly 1,125 trained workers a year for the UK's maritime and logistics sectors.

The building, named The Hive, sits within London Gateway Logistics Park. Its purpose is direct: as the port complex expands, operators in the region face a widening gap between available labour and the skills that ports, warehousing and distribution actually require. DP World is betting £13 million — split with Thames Freeport — that it can grow its own workforce rather than compete for scarce trained staff.

What does the facility actually contain?

The Hive is a three-storey building with hardware aimed at port-specific skills:

• Crane operation simulators
• Virtual reality training technology
• Working-at-height training facilities
• A 100-seat auditorium, meeting rooms and events area
• A gym and outdoor sports areas for port and logistics park employees

The centre will run more than 100 days of industrial and employment training programmes each year, according to DP World. That figure is a schedule, not a headcount — the two numbers together imply throughput of roughly ten people per training day if the 1,125 target is to be met. DP World did not break down how the annual target is calculated, and until providers begin operating in November 2026, the throughput claim remains a plan rather than a result.

Why is DP World investing in skills now?

Alan Holland, Chief Executive Officer of DP World London Gateway Logistics Park, framed the investment as infrastructure matching growth. "As the London Gateway Logistics Hub continues to grow, we want to ensure the infrastructure around it grows too," he said.

The commercial logic is straightforward. DP World says London Gateway already supports more than 10,000 jobs through direct employment and wider economic activity — a figure ten times the annual training target of The Hive. Expansion without a parallel skills pipeline would push wage costs up and constrain berth productivity; a captive training centre partially insulates the operator from that risk. For shippers and forwarders routing cargo through the Thames estuary, a steadier supply of trained crane operators and warehouse staff translates into less operational disruption as volumes rise.

Who will run the training?

SEATS, appointed as the project's skills partner earlier this year, will develop the training programmes alongside DP World and local employers. Training providers and other partners are expected to begin operating from the facility in November 2026 — a full year after the building's completion, leaving a gap that DP World has not explained.

The building itself carries credentials worth noting. Construction started in October 2025, and The Hive has achieved BREEAM Outstanding certification and an EPC A+ energy rating — the top tiers of UK sustainability benchmarks for commercial buildings. DP World did not disclose how much the certifications added to project cost.

The centre forms part of broader efforts to support London Gateway's expansion and strengthen the local workforce. Whether 1,125 trained people a year is enough to keep pace with the port's growth trajectory will become measurable once the first cohorts pass through the simulators in late 2026.