A final decision on the plans to create a new container port at Shellhaven could be made by the end of June, Port of London CEO Richard Everitt told a public meeting on the future of the River Thames.

At the meeting on 23 May he said: "I don’t think the government can credibly go into the summer recess without having made a decision - though I have been wrong before."

He was hopeful that Tony Blair - set to hand over as UK prime minister to Gordon Brown next month - "would clear the issue off his desk before he goes".

But if he failed to do so, the decision could be delayed even further, as new ministers appointed by Gordon Brown got to grips with their portfolios, Everitt said.

Following a three-and-a-half-year public inquiry, the government said it was "minded" to grant consent for the development of the seven-berth new container terminal - roughly the size of Felixstowe’s - and its associated 1m sq metre business park.

However, road access problems have yet to be resolved.

Everitt also predicted a revival in freight traffic at Imperial Wharf, which developers had wanted to turn into riverside housing.

Since the application to build housing had been rejected, the port authority had been exploring plans to reactivate freight activities with Gravesham council.

Imperial Wharf is one of the deeper wharves on the Thames estuary, offering around 14 metres of draft.

Everitt said that anti-flood measures to prevent London from the effects of global warming should not preclude continued cargo operations on the Thames.

"We’re not looking at a Doomsday scenario, " he told the meeting.