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The Port of Southampton has the largest share of the UK cruise passenger market (62 per cent of UK cruise passengers in 2004) and the largest cruise ships call there. The port currently has three cruise terminals but A fourth cruise terminal is to be constructed at Associated British Ports' (ABP) Port of Southampton after ABP and Carnival UK signed a major, 20-year contract in December 2007. As part of the agreement, ABP will invest £19m in the new terminal, which will be built at Ocean Dock opposite the site of the old Ocean Terminal.
The agreement will also give Carnival UK - the world's leading cruise company, whose cruise brands include Cunard, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises - priority use of the port's Queen Elizabeth II and Mayflower Terminals, further strengthening the group's relationship with the port.
The docks regularly host some of the greatest liners in the world such as the Queen Mary 2 and the largest ever built cruise ships, the Navigator and Freedom of the Seas. Cunard Line's Queen Victoria is based in Southampton and P&O Cruises' Ventura, the largest cruise ship ever to be built for the UK market which will be home-ported here from April 2008.
The cruise market has changed a lot over the last 20 years, but Southampton has remained the home of the industry in the UK.
Over the last few years, Southampton's cruise industry has gone from strength to strength, reflecting the consuming public's ever-growing demand for luxury cruise holidays. There has been a period of unprecedented growth for Southampton's cruise industry, with 245 cruise calls and over 800,000 passengers passing through the port in 2007 and 290 cruise calls and close to one million passengers expected in 2008.
The ongoing revival of Southampton's cruise business is a triumph, not just for port and its partners, but also for the maritime culture of the city of Southampton and the economy of the whole southeast. The region's businesses thrive on a healthy cruise market and it makes a massive economic contribution to the region.