Online retail giant Amazon has opened a delivery station in Newport.

The company, which has 12 main centres across the UK including one in Swansea, will be working with independent delivery companies to deliver orders to its customers from the new base at Celtic Business Park, on the former Llanwern Steelworks site.

The firm is employing more than 50 people directly at the new delivery station. It previously used five independent, regional delivery companies who used 100 drivers for parcel deliveries in the area.

The opening of the new delivery station sees the number of independent delivery companies it uses increase to a dozen and the number of drivers they use to more than 200.

Launched in 2012, Amazon Logistics empowers independent local, regional and national delivery companies across the UK to deliver Amazon parcels to customers every day of the week, including Sundays.

Jamie Stephenson, UK director for Amazon Logistics, said: “Amazon Logistics adds capacity and flexibility to Amazon’s delivery network, enabling us to meet the delivery needs of customers. Amazon Logistics is also helping independent local delivery companies to grow their businesses by providing state of the art technology to deliver Amazon orders.”

The new delivery centre is based in a 48,225 sq ft speculative warehousing/industrial unit built by regeneration specialist St Modwen at its 100-acre Celtic Business Park development in Newport.

Pete Davies, senior development manager for St Modwen, said the unit was the first speculative build for a decade in the wider Newport area.

He said: “The site’s close proximity to junction 23a of the M4 makes it the perfect choice for logistics and distribution firms. The proposed M4 relief road will only improve connections with the Glan Llyn junction adjacent Celtic Business Park.”

Celtic Business Park is part of the £1bn Glan Llyn site, being developed by St Modwen which is set to deliver 4,000 new homes and 6,000 new jobs over the next 20 years.

The site is strategically located at the gateway to South Wales linking to junction 23a of the M4, 12 miles from Cardiff and 30 miles from Bristol.