DP World has welcomed Europe's largest shore container crane to its flagship London Gateway logistics hub, marking its latest investment to boost the country's future trading capacity.

The giant shore container cranes, weighing more than 2,000 tonnes, will be put into service at London Gateway's new £350 million fourth berth, which is due to open this summer.

After a two-month journey to China, the shore container crane arrived at London's gateway over the weekend before successfully unloading the cargo on Wednesday. The cranes are expected to operate for at least 25 years, making its arrival a rare event in the UK, and are the size to serve the largest ships currently operating in the world - including 24,000 TEU container ships as well as larger ships in the future.

Ahsan Agha, Vice President of Port operations at DP World London Gateway, said: "At a time when the pressure to manage costs, maintain reliability and improve speed has never been greater, DP World UK has been building a unique suite of assets and features to help our customers stay competitive in a rapidly changing and unpredictable trading environment." Editor/Wang Tian