THE latest developments at the Port of Felixstowe spell good news for the logistics industry in the region, according to the owner of a major freight forwarding company.

Rob Shelley, founder of Stowupland-based Maritime Cargo Services, says the port’s new berths, jobs and infrastructure investment will benefit everyone in the logistics sector in East Anglia, including his own company.

Rob and his wife Emily set up Maritime Cargo Services 20 years ago and Rob says he is determined that the company will continue to benefit from the port’s success.

The firm has enjoyed year on year growth since its launch and in the last two years alone the company has grown by more than 50 per cent. This year, turnover is expected to exceed �15million. The couple put their success down to a number of reasons.

“We run an incredibly tight ship,” Rob explained. “Firstly, we have invested heavily in developing our own systems and software, both for our own corporate use in order to ensure we are as flexible and streamlined as possible and also for our customers to implement - our customers receive our freight forwarding software free of charge!

“We have also actively pursued international expansion over the last few years with clients looking to import and export goods into and out of the UK, especially from countries such as China, New Zealand and the US.

“Our business from clients in countries such as this has more than doubled in the last couple of years and it’s an area we see only growing in importance.”

Looking forward, the couple are hoping to start their own apprenticeship scheme and recruit and train apprentices who want to gain relevant qualifications.