The Port of Southampton is a passenger and cargo port in the central part of the south coast of England. The modern era in the history of the Port of Southampton began when the first dock was inaugurated in 1843. After the Port of Felixstowe, Southampton is the second largest container terminal in UK, with a handled traffic of 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). It also handles cruise ships, roll-on roll-off, dry bulk, and liquid bulk.

DP World is an Emirati multinational logistics company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It specialises in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services and free trade zones. Formed in 2005 by the merger of Dubai Ports Authority and Dubai Ports International, DP World handles 70 million containers that are brought in by around 70,000 vessels annually. This equates to roughly 10% of global container traffic accounted for by their 82 marine and inland terminals present in over 40 countries. Until 2016, DP World was primarily a global port operator, and since then, it has acquired other companies up and down the value chain.