THOUSANDS of jobs will be created in a superport being built by a north Kent firm.

London Gateway - on the old Shellhaven oil refinery site at Stanford-le-Hope, Essex - will eventually employ about 12,000 people, many of them from the county.

Laing O'Rourke, which has its head office at Crossways, Greenhithe, landed a 400 million deal to build the first phase of the giant container port in a joint venture with Belgian firm Dredging International.

The firm, the UK's largest private construction company, expects to take on a further 300 people for the project.

It involves the construction of three berths and a 1.2 kilometre quay for site owner Dubai-based DP World.

It is the first major contract to be awarded in the overall 1.5 billion project scheduled to be built over the next 10 to 15 years.

Laing O'Rourke's CEO Tony Douglas told the Messenger: "This is a first class result for Thames Gateway and the people of Kent and Essex. We are delighted to be playing a part in it.

"It is another critical piece in the infrastructure jigsaw that is at last coming together to move the Thames Gateway from theory to reality."

Laing O'Rourke spokesman Jeremy de Souza said: "We are hugely proud to have won this contract. We couldn't be more pleased to be involved in something that's a local job from our point of view."

London Gateway, on the opposite side of the river between Gravesend and Higham, is the UK's first deep sea container port for more than 25 years and will handle an estimated 3.5 million containers a year.

The first phase of London Gateway is due to open in 2010, with the first ships arriving in early 2011.

It promises to be the most technically advanced container port in the world. The 1,500-acre site also features Europe's largest logistics park, which will offer 9.5 million square feet of warehousing and distribution space.

Chief executive of London Gateway Simon Moore said: "This contract is a major milestone in constructing the port. London Gateway is vitally important for today's UK economy. "