DP World London Gateway

Container haulage from DP World London Gateway

We collect containers from London Gateway and deliver them across the UK, on a VBS slot booked against your container and your free time. The same vehicles work Tilbury and Purfleet, so your Thames boxes are planned as one set of runs.

Booking system: VBS, booked against the container
Thames runs: Planned with Tilbury and Purfleet
What we move: 20ft, 40ft, high cube, reefer, overweight

Price a London Gateway collection

The port

Deep water on the Thames, and still growing

London Gateway is DP World’s deep-water container port on the Essex bank of the Thames. It handled more than three million TEU in 2025, and two more berths are being built to take it from four to six. Behind the quay the stacks are automated: the driver’s ID card starts the crane on your box, so a collection moves only as fast as the booking and the release behind it.

From junction 30 of the M25 it is about seven miles east along the A13 to the Manorway junction, then about a mile down the A1014 to the port access road. Tilbury is reached off the same A13.

The same vehicles cover London Gateway, Tilbury and Purfleet, and the runs are planned together. A forwarder landing boxes at more than one Thames terminal can place all of that work with one haulier.

London Gateway at a glance

Operator: DP World
Throughput: More than 3m TEU in 2025
Berths: 4 deep-water, 2 more being built
Depth: 16.5 m alongside, at chart datum
Rail: About 22 services a day
Collections: VBS slots, booked by container

Port figures from DP World London Gateway.

What we move

Containers we collect from London Gateway

Most of it is 20ft and 40ft boxes on our own skeletal trailers. The rest each change the vehicle, the route or the booking, which is why the quote form asks about them up front.

20ft, 40ft and 45ft: Standard and high cube, to ISO dimensions. The everyday work out of the port.
Overweight: Planned against axle weights and the route, so the load is legal on the road as well as on paper.
Refrigerated: London Gateway has more than 3,000 reefer points. We plan the unplugged time, and a genset where the run needs one.
Out of gauge: Flat racks and open tops. Dimensions are checked, and we confirm at quote stage what the load needs and whether we can move it.
Animal feed, Category 3: Covered by our APHA registration, quay to premises.
Hazardous: Send the UN number and class with the request and we confirm whether we can take it before we quote.

Services

Merchant haulage

You book the haulage, not the shipping line. Your slot, your rate, your say.

FCL container transport

Full container loads in 20ft, 40ft, high cube and 45ft, port to door.

Overweight containers

Heavy boxes planned against axle weights and route, legal on the road.

Refrigerated containers

Reefers moved with the power and timing the temperature needs.

Out of gauge

Flat racks and open tops, with the route planned before collection.

Animal feed, Category 3

APHA registered to carry Category 3 feed in containers. Most hauliers are not.

How it runs

Getting your box out of London Gateway

Every collection and delivery at London Gateway needs a slot on the port’s Vehicle Booking System. The slot belongs to the container, not the truck, and since February 2026 what it costs has depended on when it falls and how much notice the terminal had.

Release and clearance

You send the container number and shipping line. We check the box is released by the line and cleared by customs before anything is booked against it.
The VBS booking

We book the container into a 95 minute slot: the booked hour, plus 15 minutes before it and 20 after. With notice, and off peak where your delivery allows, because a short-notice peak slot costs more.
Collection

Every driver needs a valid London Gateway driver ID card and a pass on the terminal awareness course. The slot belongs to the container, so if the plan changes the truck and driver can change without a charge.
Delivery and the empty

Delivered to your postcode on the agreed day. An export or an empty can be added to a valid booking until the driver arrives, so tell us what goes back in and where the empty returns: both change the price.

Lanes

Where London Gateway boxes go

The lanes we run most out of London Gateway are London and the South East, the Midlands, and East Anglia, where our yard is, at Woolpit in Suffolk. We deliver across Great Britain beyond those.

Same day collection and delivery is realistic on the shorter lanes when the booking allows it. On longer runs we tell you at quote stage what is realistic, rather than promise a day and miss it.

Notice is worth money here

London Gateway credits import bookings made well ahead into an off-peak slot, most of all when the booking is more than 12 hours out, and charges more for a slot booked less than two hours out in the weekday peaks. Demurrage still runs on the shipping line’s free time, charged per container per day. So the cheapest collection is the one we hear about early and book once, against the free time you actually have.

Lanes we run most

London and the South EastVia the A13 and the M25
MidlandsDistribution centres along the M1, M6 and M42
East AngliaEssex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire

Merchant haulage

Why book the London Gateway leg yourself

With carrier haulage the shipping line arranges the truck, on its own schedule and at its own rate. With merchant haulage you book the haulier: you choose the day, you see the rate, and you have one number to call when the plan changes.

At London Gateway that control shows up in the booking: a haulier you instruct directly books with notice, off peak where the delivery allows, and rebooks against your free time when a vessel slips or a hold lands on the box.

How merchant haulage works

What we need to book

Container number and shipping line
Release and customs position
Delivery postcode and the day you need it
Gross weight, if the box is heavy
Set temperature, for a reefer
Any export or empty to take back in

Licences and cover

What stands behind a London Gateway collection

The same freight liability limit on every box, whether it moves on our vehicle or a partner’s. Partners run on their own operator licences.

Operator licence: OF2023521; 40 vehicles and 40 trailers, on the DVSA public register.
Freight liability: £6,500 per tonne; Under RHA 2024 conditions, five times the RHA standard of £1,300. Subcontracted loads carry the same limit. Up to £10,000 per tonne by arrangement for high value freight.
Waste carrier and dealer: CBDU471791; Environment Agency, upper tier.
Animal by-products, Category 3: U1433815/TRANS; APHA registration to carry animal feed in shipping containers, quay to premises.

All licences and cover

Questions

London Gateway container haulage, answered

Who books the VBS slot at London Gateway?

We do. London Gateway books imports by container, not by truck or driver, so we need the container number, the shipping line and confirmation that the box is released and customs cleared. The slot is a 95 minute window.

Why does the timing of the booking change the cost?

Since 1 February 2026 London Gateway has priced VBS bookings on a banded tariff: an import booked well ahead into an off-peak slot earns a credit, a weekday peak slot booked less than two hours out costs more, and late changes cost more. DP World reviews the bands, so we book against the tariff in force on the day.

Can you collect reefers from London Gateway?

Yes. London Gateway has more than 3,000 reefer points, and a reefer booking costs more than a dry one, most of all at short notice. Send the set temperature and whether the run needs a genset, and we plan the unplugged time before the slot is booked.

Do you handle overweight containers out of London Gateway?

Yes. Overweight boxes are planned against the axle configuration and the route so they are legal on the road, not only on paper. Tell us the gross weight at quote stage, because it changes the vehicle.

Can you move hazardous containers from London Gateway?

Send the UN number and class with the request for a price and we will confirm whether we can take it before we quote. Hazardous work changes the vehicle and the paperwork, so it is never something to mention on the day.

Do you also collect from Tilbury and Purfleet?

Yes. The same vehicles cover London Gateway, Tilbury and Purfleet, and the runs are planned together, so a forwarder with boxes landing at more than one Thames terminal is still dealing with one haulier. Felixstowe, Southampton and Liverpool are covered too.