A contract has been signed to build a £1.5bn super-port in the Thames Gateway, creating up to 12,000 jobs.
The London Gateway container port and business park will be built on the former Shell oil refinery site at Shell Haven in the Thames Estuary, Thurrock.
Owner, Dubai Ports (DP) World, says the facility will be the world's most advanced container port and Europe's largest logistics park.
Opponents said the development would harm agricultural land and wildlife.
London Gateway will be the first deep water port to be built in the UK for more than 20 years.
The go-ahead came last year after a public inquiry and various amendments to original plans as well as measures to cope with extra road traffic.
"We think the increased competition is good news both for the shipping lines and for the end consumers"
On Wednesday Dubai Ports (DP) World signed a £400m contract which will signal the start of work to develop the site on the north bank of the Thames.
Of goods purchased in the UK, 90% arrive in a container and the new super-port is designed to radically change the way products are delivered to shops, improving efficiency.
Simon Moore, manager of the London Gateway project, said: "The physical platform that we are creating is for the 21st Century and this is the first deep water port to be built in the UK in the 21st Century."
He added that technology had advanced and the size of the ships moving around the world had also changed dramatically, and that the London Gateway would accommodate those changes for "many years to come."
Denying the facility would have a negative impact on other UK ports he said: "We think the increased competition is good news both for the shipping lines and for the end consumers."
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