DP World has confirmed to the online newspaper The Loadstar that 300 jobs will be cut across its European operations, as part of a restructuring whose exact scale the Dubai-based group has not disclosed. A spokesperson for the terminal operator only confirmed the overall figure, without specifying which countries, ports or functions are affected. The confirmation follows the departure over the past month of three senior figures in the group’s European organisation: the executive vice-presidents for central and western Europe, Dries Van Hoeymissen and Tony Hotine, and the chief operating officer for Freight Europe, Markus Rodatz. None of the three left their post with an official company announcement: the departures emerged from updates to their respective LinkedIn profiles. Only Hotine confirmed the end of his relationship with DP World: “Friday was my last day at DP World,” he wrote, adding that he had appreciated the group’s progress and wanted to follow its development as an outside observer. According to sources cited by The Loadstar, the vice-president of commerce for eastern Europe, Marc Kleinclauss, and the sales director for Switzerland, Richard Bingham, have also left the company, although their profiles have not yet been updated.
The downsizing comes during a period of solid results for the region. The head of Europe, Rashid Abdulla, described the continent as a central pillar of the group’s global growth when the 2025 accounts were presented last March. In the same year, London Gateway and Southampton handled a combined 5 million TEU for the first time, while Antwerp Gateway set a new traffic record of 2.47 million TEU.
Over the past 18 months, DP World has strengthened its presence on the continent. On 22 January 2025, the European Commission approved, under the simplified merger review procedure, the 50:50 joint venture between DP World Logistics Europe, based in the Netherlands, and Italy’s Arcese Trasporti, dedicated to logistics for automotive industry components. Operations initially cover France and Poland, with the aim of expanding to other countries in the European Economic Area. DP World Logistics Europe operates a network of 14 inland terminals in Belgium, France, Germany, Serbia, Switzerland and Romania, connected to the continent’s main ports. In March 2025, the group then completed the acquisition of the remaining 56% of Swissterminal, a logistics operator with terminals in the Basel area and in Alsace, after acquiring an initial 44% stake in January 2020.
The reduction in European staffing comes alongside a phase of investment in other parts of the group’s global network. Still in Europe, work is also continuing in the United Kingdom on the £350 million plan, equivalent to about €408 million, to build a fourth berth at London Gateway, which according to the group’s communications should create about 1,000 jobs and increase employment at the logistics park to 12,000. In the Middle East, in July 2026 DP World added 700 new industrial vehicles to its Gulf road network, to provide up to 35,000 trips a month between ports, terminals, economic zones and warehouses. Shortly before that, in 2025, the group began operations at the Syrian port of Tartus, with an $800 million investment, equivalent to about €693 million, focused on efficiency and digitalisation at the port.
M.L.
