DP (Dubai Ports) World began to construct a huge shipping container port over the site of the Shell Haven oil refinery in around roughly 2010, first opening in November 2013 although with most of the site remaining under continual construction. When the refinery land was first remedied for construction of the port, works involved covering the site with sand and extending the banks of the Thames Estuary itself further into the river with a lot of boulders and probably other deeper methods. These changes to the landscape are clearly visible on Google satellite mapping. The dock is called London Gateway, and it is a deep-water port constructed to deal with some of the largest container ships in the world being regularly linked with 51 countries. Larger ships are escorted from Harwich to the port. Since the port’s construction it has expanded from its initial portion further west as well as north of the port to warehouse and storage areas. The cranes installed there are visible for miles around and have became industrial landmarks upon the landscape. Also installed to serve the port is a modern conversion of the Thames Haven Railway, which historically served the refineries in the area over the 20th Century.
Under Construction – Autumn 2013
We were fortunate enough to be able to visit the periphery of the London Gateway docks as they were being constructed in October 2013. The docks were built over the site of Shell Haven oil refinery that closed in 1999. New land was created in the Thames too – which appeared to be made up of many many large rocks seen in the photographs below, then covered in sand. Construction began in 2010 although major development appeared in 2013 with the installation of eight monstrous quay cranes to lift the shipping in, deemed as high as the pyramids of Giza and far taller than the catalytic cracker of Coryton refinery that dominated the horizon as far away as Southend.
Sources: Wikipedia
