DP World has revealed a £1 billion plan to expand the London Gateway container port at the Government’s investment summit.
It comes after reports the P&O Ferries owner was set to shelve the announcement over calls from a Government minister to boycott its subsidiary.
On Wednesday last week, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh described P&O Ferries as a “cowboy operator”.
The criticism was aimed at the company’s actions in March 2022, when it suddenly sacked 800 British seafarers and replaced them with cheaper, mainly overseas staff, saying it was necessary to stave off bankruptcy.
In an ITV interview, Ms Haigh went further, saying: “I’ve been boycotting P&O Ferries for two-and-a-half years, and I encourage consumers to do the same.”
But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer later said calls for a boycott of the ferry firm was “not the view of the Government” following reports DP World would pull out of the summit.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said on Monday that “when you get some bumps in the road, you get on the phone and you sort it out”.
He told reporters that “we do believe and always will do that what happened with the … previous workforce of P&O Ferries was wrong”.
“We don’t support fire and rehire,” he added, “the problem under the last government was that it was lawful what happened and we will change the law.
“It will not be possible to do that under this new government. And where people can accept that position we can work with them, and of course we’ll work with people who can bring that kind of constructive investment to the UK.”
The company, which specialises in logistics and shipping cargo, confirmed over the weekend that it would still attend the summit.
On Monday, DP World marked its involvement in the event by confirming the investment plan, which it said would expand London Gateway to become Britain’s largest container port within five years.
It would increase the capacity of the port by building two new shipping berths, bringing the site to six berths which could receive the world’s largest container ships.
A second rail terminal would also be added to the site to deal with increased container trade.
The expansion would create a further 400 permanent new jobs, the company said.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, group chairman and chief executive of DP World, said: “DP World London Gateway will help make Britain’s trade flow in the future by connecting domestic exporters with global markets and delivering vital supply chain resilience for the whole economy.
“I am proud of this major investment which underlines DP World’s long-term commitment to the UK.”
