Haulage firm Eddie Stobart is opening a container transport base at DP World London Gateway logistics park in Essex. 

It says the site will give it a strategic operational base to support its growth plans in the south of England. 

Alex Laffey, chief executive of Eddie Stobart said: “We see the potential at DP World London Gateway and the opportunity to offer our customers greater cost efficiencies and environmentally-friendly supply chain solutions. 

“We believe that London Gateway provides a natural strategic fit with the growth plans for our business.” 

The port and logistics park, at Stanford-le-Hope on the River Thames, is only 20 miles from central London. 

Eddie Stobart can trace its roots to the 1970s when it began as an offshoot of an agricultural contracting business in Hesket Newmarket. 

Its parent company Stobart Group sold a 51 per cent stake last year to DBay Advisors, a private-equity group in the Isle of Man.