Two fully assembled quay cranes, each weighing more than 2,000 tonnes and standing nearly 150 metres high, have reached London Gateway after a voyage from Shanghai, kicking off the latest phase of DP World's £1 billion expansion of the Essex terminal.

The cranes will be installed at the new all-electric Berth 5, currently under construction and scheduled to become operational in 2027. Two further cranes are due at London Gateway in the coming months.

Southampton is receiving equipment in parallel. Another two cranes are expected to arrive at the terminal next week, following the delivery of two units in June. That will bring Southampton's quay crane fleet to 16. The four cranes delivered to Southampton during 2026 represent a £60 million investment.

The commercial logic behind the equipment is scale. The new cranes can perform consecutive tandem lifts, handling two 40-foot containers simultaneously, and are designed to serve container ships of around 24,000 TEU. For carriers, that means the UK's south coast and Thames estuary gateways can work the largest vessels deployed on Asia–Europe services without berth productivity becoming the bottleneck. For shippers and forwarders, faster vessel turnaround tightens schedule reliability on the lanes that dominate UK import volumes.

The volume base the cranes will serve is already substantial. DP World said its London Gateway and Southampton terminals handled more than 5 million TEU in 2025. London Gateway alone processed a record 3 million TEU, a 50% increase on the previous year. The two terminals now account for 46% of the UK's containerised trade.

The London Gateway expansion adds two new all-electric berths, taking the total number of operational berths to six, plus a second rail terminal — a move that deepens the port's inland distribution reach beyond road links.

"At both of our fantastic UK port operations at Southampton and London Gateway we are increasing capacity, improving efficiency for our customers and ensuring two of Britain's most important gateways to global trade are equipped for the future," said Kris Adams, CEO UK Ports & Terminals at DP World.

The investment positions both terminals for the next round of vessel upsizing on UK-facing trade lanes. With Berth 5 due online in 2027 and Southampton's crane fleet now at 16, DP World is betting that capacity to work 24,000 TEU ships will keep its share of the UK's container market growing.