Sir Ben Ainslie, Britain’s greatest ever Olympic sailor, ordered the loading of a 40ft golden container on to one of the world’s biggest ships to open the UK’s newest container handling facility at ABP’s Port of Southampton.
It was the final stage of a £100 million investment by ABP in the container terminal in Southampton. This is part of more than £650 million of capital investment planned by ABP across the group’s 21 ports. It is estimated that this pipeline of investment will generate in order of £1.75 billion in GVA to the UK Economy.
The ceremony with the four-times Olympic gold medallist and the CMA CGM Marco Polo marked the official opening of Southampton’s new 500m long berth.
It also brought to an end one of the biggest engineering projects in the south; creating a facility designed to handle the largest and deepest container vessels afloat.
Known as DP World Southampton, the terminal is owned 51% by DP World and 49% by Associated British Ports.
The port hosted a day of celebrations, which saw more than 300 guests drawn from the global shipping industry, local community and port staff entertained by BBC South Today’s Sally Taylor holding a live question and answer session with the America’s Cup winning sailor.
Themed on the gold standard, the event highlighted Southampton’s status as the UK’s no.1 performing container terminal, turning vessels around faster than any other UK port.
James Cooper, Chief Executive of Associated British Ports, said: “The opening is a momentous day in the history of the port, with the 500m long new quay, the first for nearly 20 years, designed to ensure Southampton can continue to handle the very biggest container ships long into the future.
“This new facility is a major investment in the future of Southampton’s container operations and a huge vote of confidence in the team we have here to continue to deliver UK leading performance.
“The Port of Southampton supports some 14,730 jobs and contributes around £1 billion to the economy every year. This new quay is vital to safeguard that and allow us to grow the business. ”
The new berth, called SCT 5, is designed to handle the largest and deepest vessels in the world, including the new 18,000-teu ships that are currently coming into service. It is equipped with four new Liebherr super post panamax cranes, capable of reaching across ships 24 containers wide.
A fifth Liebherr crane has been relocated from elsewhere in the terminal to ensure the new berth has the capability to turn ships around quickly and efficiently. While the new berth has a depth alongside of 16 metres, it can be deepened to 17 metres to cater for any future growth in vessel size.
Southampton’s ability to cater for the largest container ships afloat is being further boosted by an ongoing dredging programme designed to deepen the main approach channel giving greater access and flexibility all year round.
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Press Release, April 1, 2014