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volume,” Young says, “so don’t think for one minute this is a city trading
on its past. The heyday of Southampton is now!”
The Big C’s of Southampton port are cruises, containers and cars:
• Southampton is unquestionably the leading cruise port in Northern
Europe. P&O, Cunard and its parent company Carnival are the
main customers, with huge new company headquarters under
construction on the West Quay, but the port also works with Royal
Caribbean, NCL, Fred Olsen and Saga Holidays. Cruises alone bring
nearly £300 million into the city’s economy, through the personal
spending of passengers and crews, replenishing ships provisions,
and all associated trade and employment. With 20% growth in
passenger traffic over last year, ABP is investing heavily in cruises,
spending £9m last year on upgrading the City Cruise Terminal, one
of three main passenger terminals, and, following a 20 year
agreement with Carnival, investing a further £19 million this year on a
new terminal that will open in April next year.
• Further investment of over £40m is anticipated during 2008/9
Palmer Johnson super yachts 150 and 135 (photo: Marko Modic)
expanding the port’s car, cargo and container handling facilities.
leased by non-port related companies, such as Bacardi Martini
• Close to 700,000 new cars come in and go out through the port’s
who had a bottling plant here, and getting as much value as we
Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) berths, two thirds of them made in Britain for
can from it. The 12 acre site they had is now earmarked for port
export, mainly Jaguars, Minis, Range Rovers, Fords and Hondas,
expansion, as is the old warehouse facility the Post Office used to
representing £9bn worth of throughput.
have. The idea is to maximise efficiency and keep driving up the
throughput of goods, cars and people. We’ve seen averaged
So what does all this have to do with selling Southampton as a place
compound annual growth in containers of some 9-10% over the
to visit, stay and do business? Well, it is the sheer volume of economic
last 15 years and we’d like that to continue.”
activity that spins off the port that impresses. There are 12,000 jobs
directly linked to the port, 2,000 in the cruise businesses alone and
countless thousands more in businesses that depend indirectly on the
It is not just the port that is driving growth and jobs. This year the
port’s activities.
American super-yacht manufacturer Palmer Johnson agreed with
SEEDA to create a new plant at the old Woolston and Hythe waterfront
“We really want to see the city succeed,” Steven Young says. “We play
sites, a SEEDA-driven project that is breathing new life into an old,
our part in that but we also want to work with other businesses to make
rundown area of the coast. The Palmer Johnson investment, aimed at
the experience of Southampton better for everyone involved, whether
turning out up to 100 metre bespoke super yachts, is creating 800 new
they work here, come for a visit or are travelling through on their way to
jobs, a real vote of confidence in the city’s maritime heritage and the
a cruise.”
skills of its people.
A good example of the new spirit of cooperation is that the Port is
The building of a new IKEA superstore is similarly important but for
working with Southampton Airport and Flybe, the airport’s chief airline,
different reasons. IKEA stores are magnets for shoppers from miles
to provide a baggage handling service for cruise passengers flying
around, as the success of the Croydon store demonstrates so clearly.
into the city.
South east shoppers can now avoid the drag of negotiating the
M23/A23 by coming to Southampton. And inevitably they will spend
“We are creating a system that will take passengers’ bags straight from
money in other stores too.
the ship to the airport so they can enjoy whatever time they have in
the city, rather than twiddling their thumbs, sitting on their luggage at
Just north of the city in Eastleigh, Southampton Airport is presiding over
the airport,” Young says.
a period of growth that is bringing impressive direct and indirect
benefits into the city.
A similar example of businesses working creatively is that of Chewton
Glen, the luxury hotel just a few miles west of Southampton that Since the BAA began to invest in upgrading the airport nearly 20 years
arranges limousines to collect or deliver passengers to their ship, ago it has grown to become one of the top 3 airports in the world,
enabling them to supplement their holiday with a stay at the hotel. according to one traveller survey and Best People Airport by a poll of
200 thousand passengers.
The port is incredibly bullish on the future, no matter how uncertain
everyone else feels the times to be. By maximising land use around “We have been described as a model regional airport,” airport
the port estate, ABP intends to squeeze as much value from the land managing director Chris Butler says. “We are serving a city and a
as it can, and to keep the contribution of the port to the city region of impressive credentials and our aim is to play our part in
on an upward trend.
ensuring Southampton punches its considerable weight.”
“It is critical for us to get maximum benefit from our land use,”
It is interesting that the airport does so well considering it will never be
Young says. “We are taking back dockside real estate previously
more than a short-medium haul player. Constrained by the M27 to the
(over…)
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