New cruise terminal for Southampton

//New cruise terminal for Southampton

SO_TERM.jpgContrasting fortunes today for two British ports. While Liverpool businessmen are campaigning to restore the glory days when ocean-going liners moored in the centre of the city, Southampton announced it is to build a fifth cruise terminal (above), capable of handling some of the biggest ships in the world.
The £30 million facility, expected to be operational by 2013, will welcome up to 4,000 passengers at a time during the summer, and will be used for importing tomatoes from the Canary Islands during the winter.
It will be constructed between the City Terminal and the Mayflower Terminal, in the area highlighted on the Google Maps image below.
SO_PORT.jpgAssociated British Ports have spent £41 million developing Southampton’s facilities in recent years, including £19 million on the Ocean Terminal, opened in 2008. With P&O and Cunard operating out of the city, and with Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas now based there year-round, and Celebrity Eclipse sailing during the summer, there were more than 300 cruise ship calls in 2010.
Next year, with MSC transferring their operations from Dover, the number is expected to rise to 360. On January 5 there will be six ships in port, preparing to set out on lengthy world voyages. Queen Elizabeth, Arcadia, Black Watch, Balmoral and Saga Ruby will be jostling for position on the quayside, and more than 19,000 passengers will be coming and going.
Doug Morrison, port director of ABP Southampton, said: “Investing in this type of infrastructure helps create jobs and will bring prosperity to the city and surrounding economy.
“We are very proud of our port here in Southampton and the building of a fifth cruise terminal will cement our position at the forefront of the European cruise industry.”
Meanwhile in Liverpool, which has already learned that it will lose the regular visits of Fred Olsen’s Boudicca, a major clean-up operation is under way at Langton Dock where 250 tonnes of heavy fuel oil spilled into the water when a Greek bulk carrier, MV Antonius, collided with a dock wall last Saturday.
Boudicca is expected in the dock next Tuesday to embark 850 passengers for a 14-night Christmas cruise to the Canaries.
Original estimates for cleaning up the spill forecast the work would take two weeks, but it is now expected to be finished by Sunday.

By | 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 15 December 2010|Cruise News|4 Comments

About the Author:

John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

4 Comments

  1. DrRahman 24 June 2012 at 2:35 pm - Reply

    Any idea when the 5th terminal might become operational? The Royal Caribbean brochure indicates that their OASIS OF THE SEAS would be ailing from there. May I know when that might be?
    Thanks
    M Rahman

  2. John Honeywell 25 June 2012 at 10:42 am - Reply

    Southampton announced a hold on their plans for a fifth terminal while they fought Liverpool’s entry into the cruise turnaround business. I have not seen an announcement about whether the proposal will be reinstated. As far as I know, Royal Caribbean have no plans to bring Oasis of the Seas to Europe in the foreseeable future. Independence of the Seas is the ship they have based in Southampton, but it will not be sailing from the UK next winter

  3. Donna 16 July 2013 at 11:06 am - Reply

    Do you know if there has been any more developments on this? Is it even still going ahead?

  4. John Honeywell 16 July 2013 at 12:10 pm - Reply

    The 5th terminal development at Southampton is currently on hold, but ABP last week announced it had secured a £70m loan to finance further development and an announcement on the cruise terminal is promised for later this year. See: http://m.dailyecho.co.uk/business/10539640.Docks_get___70m_boost/

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