'We will not be a spoke in someone else's hub'

Simon Moore, the chief executive of the London Gateway for DP World, has been with the project since the beginning.

"It's a project I have overseen from drawing board to reality," he said.

"When you have a project like that, from the very first decision-making stage, when you have to decide whether to do it or not to do it, that is a project that is as about as exciting as it gets."

After joining DP World in 2003, Mr Moore took a leading role in the group's acquisition of P&O in 2006.

"The idea for London Gateway started as a joint venture between Shell and P&O and was on the books when we took over. But it hadn't been approved by the UK government.

"So we spent a lot of time understanding what the opportunities were. That took more than six months to think through the project.

"It was only when we'd convinced ourselves that this was the right thing to do, not just for DP World but for the UK economy, and that was when we went ahead.

"But it was always a business model we were comfortable with. We understood the attractions of a deepwater hub and logistics centre combined, where we were the owner of the land, the port and the infrastructure."

London Gateway, he said, was designed to let DP World exploit the increasing United Kingdom market demand for access to Asia. It was there to directly connect the port with its customers.

"We will not be a spoke in someone else's hub," said Mr Moore. "Our hinterland will be directly connected to Asia and cargo will spend less time on the road."

To achieve this, Mr Moore had to work with 16 direct contractors. The task included raising the entire site by 2 metres to avert flood threats to the infrastructure.

More than 150 stakeholders had to be satisfied, including the UK government and environmentalists.

In addition to complying with all the planning and infrastructure criteria, there was a £50 million (Dh297.3m) programme to protect the environment, both during construction and after the port becomes operational.

Under the deal, ecologists have been collecting thousands of animals such as voles, Great Crested newts, adders, grass snakes and lizards to relocate them to new homes.

Additionally, 24 new ponds on 53 hectares of land have been created for the protected species as well a new sea wall and new mudflats for wading birds.

A team of 36 archaeologists has also been at work on the site, which has been in continuous use as an industrial and trading centre for more than 2,000 years, uncovering a Roman era salt making mill, as well as earlier Iron Age factories.

dblack@thenational.ae

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