The project will take up to 15 years to build and will incorporate the UK’s most advanced container terminal and Europe’s largest logistics park, on a 1,850 acre site just 25 miles from central London.

The container facility will have a capacity of 3.5 million 20 foot equivalent units (TEUs). The Dubai-based ports operators will begin work on the project later this year. DP World wants to make the London Gateway the UK’s shipping hub, and will have adequate draft to accommodate the world’s largest container ships.

The British government's Department for Transport issued clearance for construction to go ahead on 7 May.