FIREFIGHTERS spent almost two hours battling a fierce blaze at Southampton docks.

A straddle carrier was ‘well alight’ when the fire services raced to the scene just after 2.30pm yesterday.

Smoke poured from the top of the carrier, which moves and unloads containers from vessels at the docks.

The blaze stopped crews working at the Southampton Container Terminal on Western Avenue for an hour.

Fire crews from Redbridge, Eastleigh and St Mary’s attended the blaze, which they brought under control shortly before 4.30pm.

However, firefighters remained on the scene for almost another two hours.

The container operator, DP World, had eight brand new carriers delivered as part of a

multi-million-pound investment in February, but said the machinery that caught fire was an older model.

A spokesperson for the company also said the carriers are usually equipped with fire extinguishers, and that an investigation would

be launched into what happened and why the extinguisher wasn’t used.

The carrier operator escaped unhurt and no-one else was injured in the fire.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire.