June 25 (Reuters) - Verizon Business has won a contract

to build multiple private 5G networks at Thames Freeport, one of

Britain's busiest shipping and logistics centers, the U.S.

telecom giant said on Wednesday.

The deal, in partnership with Finland's Nokia,

will see Verizon deploy private 5G networks across multiple

industrial sites along the River Thames Estuary, including major

ports and Ford's largest London manufacturing facility.

Private 5G networks provide dedicated connectivity that

avoids the congestion and speed variations of public networks

shared by multiple users, enabling advanced industrial

applications, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

5G adoption in European ports is still at an early stage.

The technology allows ports to handle larger volumes of data

needed to run or track cargoes, cranes, drones and industrial

sensors.

The companies did not disclose financial details of the

agreement, only describing it as supporting a

"multibillion-dollar operational transformation" of the region.

Thames Freeport is a 34 km-wide economic corridor

established in 2021 as a designated UK "Free Trade Zone",

offering a range of tax incentives and reliefs to businesses as

part of efforts to revive the Thames Estuary region.

Verizon has been working with Nokia to develop

private networks for manufacturing and logistics companies in

international markets where it lacks its own public network

infrastructure.

Nokia will serve as the sole hardware and software provider.

The networks will serve DP World London Gateway and DP World

Logistics Park - Britain's largest deep-sea container port

handling over 3 million units annually -, the Port of Tilbury

and Ford's Dagenham plant.

Use cases will include AI-driven data analytics, predictive

maintenance, process automation, autonomous vehicle control,

safety monitoring and real-time logistics orchestration, Verizon

said.