Port of Southampton

Southampton Water is a deep-water inlet on the south coast where the rivers Test and Itchen meet. The port lies at the head of this mile-wide drowned valley, sheltered by the Isle of Wight from storms. Its position gives large ships safe access despite the English Channel’s strong tides. The double tides here raise and lower the water for seventeen hours each day. This means the biggest container and cruise vessels can enter for up to eighty per cent of the time. The port handles more than 1.5 million containers every year, making it Britain’s second busiest deep-sea terminal. Cruise traffic has grown from 738 000 passengers in 2005 to nearly two million in 2019. Each ship call brings about £1.25 million to the local economy. The cruise terminals include the modern Horizon and Queen Elizabeth II buildings, plus the historic Ocean Terminal. Visitors can watch giant vessels at the container terminal on reclaimed land. Five passenger terminals line the waterfront, each with berths for the largest liners. Behind the docks, seven multi-storey car parks store thousands of imported vehicles. The sheltered waters and steady flow of ships make Southampton one of Europe’s busiest maritime hubs.