Port of Southampton

The Port of Southampton is a major passenger and cargo port located in the city of Southampton, Hampshire in the UK. It is the flagship port operated by Associated British Ports carrying the majority of the country's cruise passengers in its three cruise terminals and is home port to the country's largest cruise ships.

Southampton Ferry Port

The Red Eagle, one of the three car ferries that travel from Southampton to East Cowes

Southampton was a railway and passenger port in the 19th century. Ships sailed from the inner and outer dock to Le Havre, Cherbourg, St Malo and the Channel Islands for years. Passenger vessels included the RMS Titanic, which departed Southampton on its ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912.

In the early 1960s a new wave of tourists arrived, passengers with vehicles. Southampton realised that the days of the conventional car ferry were limited and looked to develop a ferry port. The old Inner dock was filled in, no longer big enough for much commercial shipping and its tidal nature was now becoming an issue. The entrance to the PAD (Princess Alexandra Dock, (the old outer dock)) was widened, this in itself removed two old berths No4 and No5. A linkspan was installed on No7 berth and No1 became the sea wall where the lock was, berth No2 and No3 were rotated round 90 degrees and a new pier constructed on an east-west axis and dry dock number 1 filled in. This shows an active port.^[1]

Stena Sealink returned to Southampton in 1991 with the former St Nicholas now renamed the Stena Normandy running to Cherbourg on a one round trip a day basis. She was supplemented by the introduction of the Stena Challenger for additional freight capacity. Once again ABP invested a significant amount in the hope that Stena would be able to establish themselves, but the ships were often empty and the service was short-lived, lasting 5 years, closing in 1996. They used the existing facilities at No30 berth and an additional linkspan created in the Empress dock. Both now lie largely unused.

Although Southampton's time as a ferry port was brief it now is the UK's largest importer of cars and the car reception areas now fill the eastern docks .

There is currently a direct ferry link to Cowes in the Isle of Wight with Red Funnel Ferries. The Hythe Ferry runs across to Hythe on the far side of Southampton Water.

Southampton Cruise Port

Queen Mary 2 in Southampton

Southampton is the premier port in the United Kingdom for Cruise departures with many cruise ships being based there, including the entire P&O fleet. There are four cruise terminals in the Port of Southampton:

• Queen Elizabeth II Terminal, berth 38/39
• Mayflower Terminal, berth 106
• City Terminal dock, berth 101
• Ocean Terminal, berth 46 ^[2]

As of May 2008, the following cruise ships homeported at Southampton:

• P&O Cruises - Arcadia, Artemis, Aurora, Oceana, Oriana, Ventura
• Cunard - Queen Mary 2, MS Queen Victoria, MS Queen Elizabeth (2010)
• Ocean Village - Ocean Village, Ocean Village Two
• Royal Caribbean - Independence of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas

References