A GLOBAL transport and logistics company is moving to Mountpark Southampton – the development built on the site of the city’s former Ford factory.

DSV Air & Sea Limited will centralise its local operations on the site and aims to grow there over the coming years.

Mountpark Logistics said it had leased a 95,099sqft distribution centre to the company.

Martin Rutter, director of DSV air & Sea, said: “We are very pleased to have secured this new unit to fulfil our current and future client requirements.

“Mountpark Southampton is an ideal location for this new operation due to the close proximity to the other facilities DSV Air & Sea currently operate within the area.”

The building, which was completed in January, is one of seven units that Mountpark has built speculatively in a development totalling 562,074sqft.

The company has already secured lettings to CooperVision, Berendsen, Paul Murray Plc, Matthew Clark and PFSweb and there is now only one unit of 74,390sqft remaining.

Tom Kilmister, development director at Mountpark UK and Ireland, said: “We are delighted to welcome DSV Air & Sea Limited to Mountpark Southampton.

“DSV Air & Sea is a long-term occupier in the region and we hope this new unit will help the company further enhance the logistics services it can offer companies along the south coast.

“At Mountpark, we are committed to offering our customers the best opportunities on the market and our Southampton development, with its excellent connectivity and immediate labour supply, is proving to be a great success - for us and the occupiers,” he added.

The move does not create any new jobs, as staff will move there as the company will be consolidating other local warehouse operations into one site.

Avison Young, DTRE, and JLL acted for Mountpark in the negotiations. DSV was unrepresented.

Mountpark acquired the Swaythling site in 2015 after the closure of the Ford Transit plant there which was once a major employer for Southampton.

Transits were made at the plant for 40 years and it was Ford’s last vehicle manufacturing site in the UK when it closed in July 2013. By that time, more than 2.2m Transits had been made at Swaythling.

Its closure brought to an end more than a century of Ford production in Britain, although a refurbishment plant remained at the site.

Southampton City Council worked with the new owner in an effort to keep the site for employment and create more than 1,000 jobs there.

Mountpark was made attractive by the site’s location near the M27, Southampton Airport, Southampton Airport Parkway railway station and the city’s docks.

Mountpark Logistics is a joint venture established to develop logistics facilities across Europe, with particular focus on the UK and western and central European markets.