21.12.2012

The first vessel calls at London Gateway

PLA launch Kew shadowing Wieniawski as she approaches (click on image to enlarge)

Wieniawski alongside the new quay at  London Gateway Port (click on image to enlarge)

Early Christmas present for the DPWorld team at London Gateway Port, as the 170-metre general cargo vessel, Wieniawski, docked at around 8.00 am today (Friday, 21 December) to discharge a cargo of container crane parts as development of the new port continues.  

Wieniawski, is the first vessel to dock on the London Gateway quayside, built as part of the £1.5 billion scheme to develop the UK’s first 21st Century major deep-sea container port and Europe’s largest logistics park.  The first berths of the port are due to open in the last quarter of 2013;  when fully developed the port will be able to handle 3.5m TEUs of containers a year.

PLA pilot, Simon Liley, guided the vessel from the North Sea to the berth.  PLA pilots have already berthed at the port more than eighty times in the PLA’s ships’ bridge simulator as they prepare to bring the world’s largest container vessels to the new terminal.