{"id":294419,"date":"2025-10-01T17:10:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T07:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=66253"},"modified":"2025-10-01T17:10:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T07:10:35","slug":"fifth-interport-rail-service-for-dp-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=294419","title":{"rendered":"Fifth interport rail service for DP World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 the best use of its logistics facilities at London Gateway.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The service operates between the Freightliner-managed rail terminal at Southampton and DP World\u2019s 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 \u201cport to port\u201d rail service in the UK.<\/p>\n

Two become one \u2026 business unit<\/h2>\n

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 per cent of all import containers leaving by rail. It\u2019s well on target to achieve that.<\/p>\n

\"HMM
The scale of modern shipping is immense. 12,000 containers on the decks of this ship at Southampton. Image \u00a9 Simon Walton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The five-hour rail transfer between ports compares favourably with road alternatives. It also helps strengthen DP World\u2019s \u201csingle business unit\u201d operational preference for its two UK ports. \u201cLondon 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,\u201d explained Andy Bowen, Chief Operating Officer, UK Ports & Terminals for DP World<\/a>. \u201cIt 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.<\/p>\n

Cool runnings<\/h2>\n

The interport rail service allows shipping agents to use both Southampton and London Gateway as logistics hubs. DP World says there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"Night
Trains run night and day between London Gateway and Southampton. Image: \u00a9 DP World<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 \u201cWe already have two Maersk reefer services calling in Southampton,\u201d said Andy Bowen, who says the shipping company benefits from the rail connection. \u201cSome of the cargo which comes into Southampton is put on the train and ends up in the logistics park in London Gateway refrigerated warehouses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running on empties<\/h2>\n

One of the Maersk services comes alongside at Southampton on Friday afternoons. Andy Bowen explains how that fits into their rail schedule. \u201cWe 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,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Returning empty containers is a big challenge in the UK. It\u2019s a job that rail handles economically. Andy Bowen says that taking empties along with UK export traffic is an ability 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<\/a> (Hydro-treated vegetable oil) as an alternative fuel source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3032,1023,65,17895,2973,78,47,1684,85],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-294419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dp-world","category-england","category-intermodal","category-interport","category-london-gateway","category-rail-freight","category-rail-news","category-southampton","category-uk","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294419"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294464,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294419\/revisions\/294464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}