River Orwell

The Port of Felixstowe covers 700 acres and employs 2800 people. Around 5000 people have access to the port on a flexible basis including lorry drivers and the ships' crews that bring the containers into the dock.

The port is owned by Hong Kong-based firm Hutchison, who has 47 ports worldwide and also makes some of the products on sale on our high streets.

In 2008 the port reaches 2.6km in length and is one of the largest continual quays in Europe.

Paul Davey, Corporate Director of the Port of Felixstowe, said: "Fewer shipping lines bring in more products in greater quantities and to keep up we are reconfigurating the older part of the docks and extending the quay outwards.

"Phase one extends the quay by 80 metres outward and the phase two plan is to lay a new rail track. Rather than 52 trains on one rail track a day there will be 80 on two."

A crane overhangs a pile of containers

This is expected to take a few hundred thousand lorries off the road annually and contribute towards cutting carbons.

Consumerism

The port moves approximately 40,000 containers of products a week. Clothes, phones, washing machines, food such as bananas and kiwi fruits all come to the high streets across the UK via the port. Only 50 per cent of the 40,000 containers are used for exports such as whisky or wheat.

"Without the demand for these products we wouldn't have to expand the port to accommodate the new larger ships and keep up with the competition. No-one has just the one television these days - each room in the house has to have one.

"It's much easier and cheaper in some cases to throw the old washer or television out and buy a new one than to find someone to repair it.

"Some of the 20,000 containers that aren't used for exports are used to take waste products such as paper to be recycled in plants in China.

"About 2000 containers are moved in 24 hours. Each container ship is made up of bays and each bay is unloaded and then loaded one at a time."

Between five and 15 container ships enter the port daily. The beginning of the week is the busy period, when supermarkets are restocking shelves after the weekend's shopping spree has taken place.

Paul finished by saying: "As recession sets in consumers tend to buy cheaper rather than stop buying at all.

"Cheaper is often bigger, for example a CD player rather than an iPod. People eat more now than they used to.

"So there is a need for bigger ships and more space to accommodate them."