FORMER secretary of state for transport Ruth Kelly has been appointed as the first chair of Thames Freeport, which includes DP World's London Gateway port, the Port of Tilbury and the Thames Enterprise Park in Thurrock.

She served as MP for Bolton West from 1997 until she stood down in 2010 and during that period, as well as being transport minister, she held the roles of secretary of state for communities and local government, education and skills and she was minister for women and equalities, as well as holding ministerial roles in HM Treasury.

Since leaving Parliament, she has held roles at HSBC Global Asset Management and St Mary's University. As Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at St Mary's, she spearheaded the delivery of a transformational vision, 'Vision 2025: St Mary's plan for the future'.

Announcing the appointment, Thames Freeport said: "She commands a deep knowledge of government and a strong grasp of the logistics sector, which will help drive forward the freeport's transformation programmes to increase knowledge transfer, skills development and clean growth."

Ms Kelly said: "I'm pleased to lead a coalition of public sector partners and businesses at the forefront of their industries during a period of seismic change. The freeport will create an irresistible investment platform around our world-class ports – London Gateway and Tilbury – that will deliver a step-change in terminal capacity, supply chain resilience and manufacturing capability for UK plc.

"The freeport will drive fresh large-scale inward investment, while driving regeneration in areas of need across our region and creating a centre of excellence for the country as we electrify, automate and digitise our future."

Thames Freeport is an economic zone connecting Ford's world-class Dagenham engine plant at Dagenham, the global ports at London Gateway and Tilbury, and the developing Thames Enterprise Park on the site of the former Mobil refinery at Coryton.

Businesses looking to expand are being urged to take advantage of the tax benefits of relocating to the Freeport and being part of a customs zone, which will enable the businesses to continue to have low friction trade processes with the EU and global markets.

As part of last week's budget (Wednesday, 27 October,) it was announced the freeport will begin operations from today (1 November).

Thames Freeport's formal commercial launch took place at an event at London's Savoy Hotel in September. The freeport has already seen the £300 million announcement by DP World that work will begin shortly on a new fourth berth at its London Gateway logistics hub to increase supply chain resilience and create more capacity for the world's largest vessels.

You can find out more about Thames Freeport via this link.