James started in the role this month, bringing with him more than 20 years of international experience in the shipping and ports industry.

He was most recently Head of Commercial for Associated British Ports (ABP) Humber region, covering the ports of Immingham, Hull, Grimsby and Goole.

After starting out as a trainee with Harrison Line in Liverpool, James moved on to P&O Nedlloyd and Maersk Line, working in a range of commercially focused roles based in the UK, Latin America, France and Spain.

In 2008, James moved into container terminal management heading up the commercial function at Tilbury Container Services. This was followed by a brief spell with Inchcape Shipping Services as Global Key Account Manager and subsequently with ABP.

Tabare is set to take up the post as Commercial Director at DP World Vancouver in the New Year after more than six years at DP World London Gateway.

James Leeson, Head of Port Commercial, DP World London Gateway, said: “Things are really starting to take shape at DP World London Gateway Port and Logistics Park, with ships calling from across the globe and the park’s first distribution centre being full of cargo from Asia. You can also see the potential that still exists, which I find really exciting.

“It’s nice to be reunited with some people I’ve worked with before and it will be great to reconnect with some of my previous customers and to begin forging relationships with plenty of new customers as well. “I’m passionate about being able to provide customers with tailored solutions, so that they get the best possible product that works for them. This future-proofed facility, with its various propositions – all hugely compelling – make it a lot easier to meet the needs of customers across the industry.”

Simon Moore, CEO, DP World London Gateway, said: “I would firstly like to congratulate Tabare on his promotion within DP World and thank him for the role he has played at DP World London Gateway Port. The whole team here wishes him well in the next stage of his career.

“I am delighted to welcome James to our growing team. He brings with him a wealth of experience from within the container shipping industry and I look forward to his contribution towards the continued success of our fast growing, state-of-the-art container port and logistics park. “James will also work closely with our supply chain team and report to Cameron Thorpe, Port General Manager.”

The Logistics Centre, which was the first building to be constructed on the DP World London Gateway Logistics Park, uses 33 per cent less carbon on average than other buildings serving a similar purpose and of a similar size.

To achieve this, carbon reduction was considered at each phase of the building’s life. The Logistics Centre has over 1000 solar panels to provide low carbon, renewable energy and the building itself is highly energy efficient thanks to its insulated cladding system which reduces carbon and running costs.

There were further important but less visible initiatives around how to construct the building using minimal carbon. These engineering solutions included reducing the number of pile foundations, using 25 per cent cement replacement in the concrete piles and recycling 95 per cent of waste materials on site.

The 19,280m² Logistics Centre opened in June 2015 and is full of cargo from Asia bound for the shop floors of major toy and homeware retailers in the UK. The Planet Mark accreditation scheme benchmarked the Logistics Centre against other warehouses of a similar size and serving a similar purpose. Comprising almost 17,000m² of warehouse space and 2,500m² of office space, the Logistics Centre uses one third less carbon than the “business as usual” baseline. It was built by DP World London Gateway and is operated by Import Services Limited.

Steve Malkin, CEO, Planet First, said: “We wish to congratulate DP World London Gateway on achieving The Planet Mark certification for its Logistics Centre by showing good practice in its sustainability.

“We measure the lifecycle carbon of developments and benchmark them against similar projects. Organisations must also show reductions in their carbon emissions to achieve the Planet Mark, while engaging with suppliers and stakeholders to implement improvement initiatives. DP World London Gateway Logistics Park has achieved all of these things.”

Simon Moore, CEO, DP World London Gateway said: “We are thrilled to have been recognised by The Planet Mark for the sustainable ways in which we build and operate our developments at DP World London Gateway.

“The Logistics Centre is the first of many logistics buildings on our 9million square foot Logistics Park and we hope that all of the buildings can achieve this accreditation as we continue to develop.

“One of the key propositions offered by this market-centric development is its ability to reduce CO2 emissions created by supply chains. There’s no better way of proving our intent in doing so than by being sustainable in the construction and operation of our buildings.”

On 11 January 2016 the first whole train will start out from Rotterdam. To begin with it will depart from Rotterdam twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, and on Tuesdays and Fridays it will set out from Neuss in the other direction. If there is a strong positive response, Contargo may increase the frequency to three round trips per week. In Rotterdam the train will call at the terminals APMT 1, ECT Delta and Euromax; in Neuss it will arrive and depart from Contargo’s terminal in the Flosshafenstrasse.

“With the Neuss Multimodal Express we are directly linking the Lower Rhine Region – from Duisburg to Krefeld, Düsseldorf and Mönchengladbach, to Cologne – with Europe’s biggest seaport”, says Jürgen Albersmann, Managing Director of Contargo Neuss GmbH. “This rail product ideally complements our existing barge lines. Particularly in times of flooding or low water, when a reliable second option is needed, the new line provides an environmentally friendly alternative. The rail connection is also faster than the barge, so that where time-sensitive transports are concerned it can help to free up the overfilled autobahns in the Rhineland.”

With an annual transport volume of 2 million TEU, Contargo is one of the largest container logistics networks in Europe. Contargo integrates container transport between the western seaports, the German North Sea ports and the European hinterland. The enterprise has 25 container terminals at its disposal in Germany, France, Switzerland and the Czech Republic and maintains offices at seven additional locations in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Contargo also operates its own barge and rail lines. In 2014 the workforce of 800 employees achieved a turnover of 410 million Euro.