The largest ship ever seen in Southampton has docked in Southampton.

The 399m long Milan Maersk arrived at DP World's container terminal this afternoon.

It dwarfed Calshot Castle and the maritime control tower and completely blotted out views of the Isle of Wight as it entered Southampton Water.

The 214,000 tonne megaship belongs to the second generation of Maersk Line’s Triple-E class (Economy of scale, Energy efficient and Environmentally improved) and is part of a series of 11 container ships, which will be delivered by the end of 2018.

The giant vessels have a dual engine with a maximum speed of 23 knots to increase efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions.

Milan Maersk’s propulsion and software system creates energy savings which aims to reduce carbon emissions per container vessel by 35 per cent.

The Triple E class ships also feature a waste heat recovery system which uses hot exhaust gas to produce extra propulsion.

ABP Southampton Director, Alastair Welch said: “Milan Maersk is just the latest of these new megaships to visit the Port of Southampton. Not only are these vessels bigger - they are much cleaner too and we are seeing more of these new generation ships visiting across the port’s key trades.

“The Port of Southampton is ideally suited to welcome these megaships.”