A winter of content for the cruise lines (From Daily Echo)

A winter of content for the cruise lines

9:36am Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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HAMPSHIRE’S earnings from Southampton’s buoyant cruising industry are to receive a multi-million pound boost as shipping lines extend their operations into the winter.

Traditionally, Southampton’s main cruising season runs from the end of this March to late autumn but now there’s a new competition to ferry passengers to warmer climes to beat the winter blues.

As a result, major companies are now keeping their ships here between October and April.

Cruising is a huge cash and job generator for the region’s economy, producing about £300m annually and safeguarding employment for more than 2,000 local people.

The shipping lines’ decision to keep vessels in Southampton for a winter programme of voyages, will mean extra business for specialist suppliers, port services, city hotels and restaurants, taxis and coach companies, all big earners from the city’s cruising industry.

A further influx of crew will also set cash registers ringing in city centre shops.

Cruising companies believe the winter voyages, in and out of Southampton, will be popular with the large number of passengers who prefer to join a ship in the UK rather than flying to an overseas embarkation port. P&O Cruises’ is the latest company to announce it intends to maintain a presence in the docks throughout the winter period in 2011.

The 77,500 ton, Oceana, able to accommodate 2,200 passengers, will offer cruises from Southampton to the western and eastern Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, as well as the Caribbean and USA.

Royal Caribbean International’s vast, Independence of the Seas, which returns to Southampton next month, will also remain in the port throughout the winter.

Ships operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines will become a familiar sight in the docks during next winter as will Saga Cruises’ two vessels, Saga Pearl II, and Saga Ruby.

The combination of more than £40m investment by Associated British Ports in quayside passenger terminals, together with the sheltered conditions of Southampton Water, and the city’s central position on the South Coast all add up to make the docks an attractive departure point for winter cruises.