Global port operator DP World is introducing a fifth weekly rail service between its two UK container terminals. From this Wednesday (1 October), trains will run five times a week between Southampton and London Gateway. The 120-mile (190km) working provides a transfer service for clients and the port operator. The trains help reduce road traffic and emissions. It also helps DP World make best use of its logistics facilities at London Gateway.
The service operates between the Freightliner-managed rail terminal at Southampton and DP World’s own common user rail terminal at London Gateway on the north bank of the River Thames in Essex. The service began as a weekly train in November 2022. DP World say their Southampton and London Gateway train is the first “port to port” rail service in the UK.
Two become one business unit
DP World has been steadily increasing the proportion of containers moved by rail from its Southampton terminal. A modal shift incentive – a bounty paid to shippers who choose rail for transfers up to 140 miles (224km) – has proved very popular. The company has targeted 40% of all import containers leaving by rail. It’s well on target to achieve that.
The five-hour rail transfer between ports compares favourably with road alternatives. It also helps strengthen DP World’s “single business unit” operational preference for its two UK ports. “London Gateway has the ability for shipping lines, which are [booked into] Southampton, to have export cargo from that part of England and put it on the train, rather than haulage,” explained Andy Bowen, Chief Operating Officer, UK Ports & Terminals for DP World. “It has opened up an ability for imports and exports to move around. That’s why we’ve increased to five days a week from the first of October.”
Reefers between terminals
The interport rail service allows shipping agents to use both Southampton and London Gateway as logistics hubs. DP World says there’s evidence from loadings that shippers are landing containers at Southampton and forwarding them by rail to the dedicated logistics park at London Gateway. The larger port, therefore, helps take pressure off its south coast compatriot.
The reliable journey time is also beneficial for cargo that requires refrigeration. Reefer traffic is a growth market in the UK. Southampton is expanding its “We already have two Maersk reefer services calling in Southampton,” said Andy Bowen, who says the shipping company benefits from the rail connection. “Some of the cargo which comes into Southampton is put on the train and ends up in the logistics park in London Gateway refrigerated warehouses.”
Economic solution to moving empties
One of those Maersk services comes alongside at Southampton on Friday afternoons. Andy Bowen explains how that fits into their rail schedule. “We fill up the train with refrigerator boxes, and it goes up to Gateway, arriving about three in the morning. It’s unloaded and we shunt it into the logistics park so that we have this train to also reposition empties,” he says.
Returning empty containers is a big challenge in the UK. It’s a job that rail handles economically. Andy Bowen says that taking empties along with UK export traffic is well-suited to their interport rail service. Although the motive power on the run is diesel (typically a workhorse class 66), DP World is comfortable that the rail freight companies are embracing HVO (Hydro-treated vegetable oil) as an alternative fuel source.
WorldCargo News visits Southampton in the forthcoming October edition of our magazine (promotional subscription available).