Leaders at the Port of Felixstowe have confirmed that the major import/export hub is set to double its rail freight capacity.

The facility - otherwise known as the Port of Britain - is installing three state-of-the-art rail mounted gantry cranes, which will span the nine-track rail terminal.

Chief executive officer of Hutchison Ports - the firm that owns the port - Clemence Cheng said the complex is already operating 58 daily arrivals and departures to different parts of the UK and the company thinks that rail freight has an important role to play in driving down logistics costs.

"The arrival of our new cranes is an important milestone in Felixstowe's plans to deliver the most cost and environmentally efficient logistics infrastructure in the UK," he remarked.

Once the new rail terminal is fully open, the port will have 20 tracks, which is more than London's King's Cross station.

Bosses at Hutchison Ports are constantly striving to increase the efficiency of the Port of Felixstowe and last September they revealed that the site has achieved a 24 per cent improvement in the number of operational moves made per hour on deep sea vessels.