World's biggest cargo ships will head for capital's new £1.5bn port

The £1.5 billion London Gateway will become the busiest container port in England, propelling the capital up the league of international port cities.

It will be built on the site of the former Shell haven oil refinery near Stanford-le-Hope, Essex.

The development will deal with imports of everything from T-shirts from China to kiwi fruit from New Zealand. It will cover 1,850 acres - three times the size of the City of London.

Twenty cranes 120 metres high will be able to unload ships that are up to 400 metres long and carry 16,000 containers.

The Department for Transport granted a harbour revision order after port owner DP World agreed to invest £100 million upgrading local road and rail infrastructure. Construction is due to begin this year, with completion expected in 2010.

DP World, which is owned by the Dubai government, bought out P&O for £3.9billion in 2005, closing a chapter on the 168-year-old shipping firm that was synonymous with Britain's industrial and maritime peak.

The company provoked an outcry in America, where it was barred from assuming control of P&O's six major ports, including New York, on national security grounds.

London Gateway will create 12,000 jobs, according to government estimates. Its chief executive, Simon Moore, said: "In many ways we are going back to our roots as a trading nation. We will get the biggest ships in the world as close as we can to the UK's largest consumer market in combination with significant ware-housing capacity.

"This is precisely how the Port of London used to work and was the foundation stone on which the city prospered. This port-centric opportunity will take 2,000 trucks per day off our national road network."

London was the world's biggest port until the Sixties, until changing technology and falling manufacturing exports led to a steady decline. By 1981, all the main east London docks along the Thames had closed.

The nearest container ports to the capital are currently Thamesport in Kent, Tilbury in Essex, Felixstowe in Suffolk, and Southampton.

The Port of London Authority, which oversees existing terminals along the Thames, has backed the development.

Spokesman Martin Garside said: "There has been a huge growth in container shipping in recent years. Almost all consumer goods are shipped by sea, whether they be electrical goods from the Far East or clothing.

"London Gateway certainly won't take business away from the likes of Tilbury as there is a severe shortage in capacity. What it does mean is that goods won't have to be hauled [to London] by lorry from around the UK or the Continent, which will lead to cheaper transport costs and is better for the environment.

"When you consider around 90 per cent of consumer goods on our shelves are imported, it is going to be hugely beneficial to get them straight into the biggest market place."