EUROGATE EXPANSION IS GO

P&O’s investment in Shellhaven on the north bank of the Thames at Thurrock, will be to the tune of £700m to make the former oil refinery Britain’s largest container port. Phased development is planned out for the next decade and beyond. Another £700m is earmarked for the adjacent business park, which is to be self-financing and operate in partnership with Shell UK.

In spite of noisy public disapproval, Eurogate has had its plans for westward terminal expansion in Hamburg waved through. Parts of the Petroleum Port will be filled in, and the handling capacity of the container rail station will be doubled to 600,000.