Thames Freeport - Britain's Trading Future

[ 29 ] Ford is London’s leading manufacturing business, with around 1,900 people employed at its Thames-side location in Dagenham plus other key operations along the Thames Corridor such as the Ford Britain Dunton Campus close to Basildon and the company’s European Mobility team headquarters at the Olympic Park — both of which are heavily focused on developing advanced technologies. Ford is also one of the UK’s largest exporters, with a total annual value of around £2.5 billion. The continuation of the regeneration of the Thames Estuary is therefore important not just for the region but for the UK as a whole. The Freeport’s priority targets are in accord with Ford’s. These include the ambition to create opportunities for levelling up deprived communities’ chances, with a focus on skills and training fit for a growing 21st century workforce; driving new large scale investment; and technical innovation around low carbon technology. Ford Dagenham also lies at the nexus of two major hubs for the company’s commercial vehicle operations in Europe — its Commercial Vehicle business group located in Dunton, Essex, which is responsible for the design, development and marketing of Ford commercial vehicles and services, and the Ford European Mobility team based in Stratford, East London, which looks at solutions to future mobility needs. Ford Motor Company