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.
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. 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.”
Sir Ben Ainslie, winner of 4 Olympic Gold Medals for sailing, opened DP World Southampton’s new SCT5 berth on 31st March, 2014.
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