“Staying one step ahead”
From London Gateway in the UK to Jebel Ali in Dubai.
DP World remains committed to Europe, as the expansion of activities in the United Kingdom under Ernst Schulze, CEO in the UK, clearly exemplifies. Future technologies can be experienced first-hand, with innovative initiatives such as Boxbay and Cargospeed at the heart of the group’s activities in Dubai.
What lessons have you learnt from the ongoing measures to counter the pandemic, Mr Schulze?
We’ve learnt a lot in the past two years! We’re now in a much better position to absorb any disruption to the supply chain.
Where have you re-engineered processes?
One example of a success story is our reefer offering, where we’ve observed increased procurement from non-European countries in the wake of Brexit. In London Gateway, for example, the number of plug-ins for reefers has doubled to 2,500 in just twelve months.
You’re also expanding your logistics space speculatively these days...
That’s right. We’ve started a second warehouse project in London Gateway, with 36,000 m² of space. The demand for this space has exceeded our expectations. The impact of e-commerce is much stronger than in 2020, which is why we want to be the decisive step ahead and build capacity in time.
How different are the two large terminals that you operate there?
The old adage that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts is really proving to be true here. 1+1 really = 3! At Southampton we’ve already invested around GBP 40 million (EUR 48 million) in our overall infrastructure. With a water depth of 15.5 m and fourteen cranes on site, we can handle all vessels with capacities of up to 24,000 teu. And at London Gateway we’ve been able to expand capacity in these demanding times thanks to the space available to us.
Where do you stand today in terms of digitalisation?
We’re engaging more and more customers via our CNS platform, now rebranded as CARGOES, and have again significantly increased the number of orders in 2020.
Is the shortage of staff very striking?
Indeed, it can be a big challenge in the London area. In addition to retraining, we also focus on becoming an even more attractive brand and supporting young women to train as apprentices. We currently have almost 1,200 employees in the United Kingdom.
Is there a move towards more intermodal hinterland connections?
We can’t simply increase the 30% share of railfreight overnight. However, the current bottlenecks have rattled the public sector, so we do expect more resources to be allocated to the railways.
How are things going in terms of dealing with the congestion?
We’re doing everything we can to reduce box dwell times from the current average of 7–8 days to a more usual 3–4 days, whilst simultaneously increasing capacity to ensure we’re prepared for all future scenarios.
Where does the Thames Freeport stand?
The overall package is right for us. In the last 6–9 months we’ve had many enquiries about the opportunities and tax advantages that are available to businesses locating there. We can also recruit new employees through the local authorities associated with us in the freeport. The project is well organised and has a promising future.
At the heart of DP World
If you want to know in detail, go back to the roots. This is what happened at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, held a little late, in 2021. In its pavilion there, DP World showed the first steps it took towards becoming a global logistics network, and also demonstrated technical solutions for 2024 and beyond, in the form of Cargospeed and Hyperloop, including its own global vision of a good future.
DP World’s new Boxbay is currently running in pilot operations in its newest terminal: ‘Terminal 4’ has an annual capacity to handle 3.2 million teu. It is located in the Jebel Ali port complex, where it all began in 1979, with the construction of the first port. Boxbay is an innovation by a joint venture between DP World and the SMS Group, and aims to store containers up to eleven storeys high on a third of the conventional space, and to speed up handling through fully automatic operations.