THE “Open for Business’’ sign went up on Southampton’s new £19m Ocean Terminal today.

Expected to handle up to 70 cruise ship calls and at least 250,000 passengers this year alone, the dockside complex is the most modern of its type in Europe.

See Ocean Cruise Terminal's contruction in 30 seconds

Daily Echo readers will be given the chance of being some of the first members of the public to see inside the terminal on the day it is officially declared open later this month.

Although the distinctive landmark building on the city’s waterfront begins operations with the arrival of P&O Cruises’ ship Oceana, tomorrow’s occasion will be a purposely, low-key event.

However, on Friday, May 29, a total of 120 Daily Echo readers will have the unique opportunity to be part of the inaugural celebrations as guests of Associated British Ports (ABP), owners and operators of the city’s docks, and P&O Cruises, whose ship Ventura will be alongside the berth.

The VIP guests will have a grandstand view of the giant 115,000 tons Ventura as she departs from the Ocean Terminal.

Winners of the Daily Echo competition will be given an exclusive behind-thescenes tour of the terminal and also raise a glass of bubbly to toast the success of the new building.

Oceana’s arrival will be the chance for ABP and Carnival UK, the parent company of P&O Cruises, to test baggage handling equipment, the passenger checking-in system, security arrangements, car parking together with the disembarking and embarking procedures and controls as the terminal goes “live’’.

The new Ocean Terminal is named after its famous predecessor which formerly stood on the opposite side of the Ocean Dock and was opened by Prime Minister Clement Attlee on July 31, 1950. Until it was finally demolished in 1983, the art deco building was home to many of the great transatlantic liners of the world, including Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and SS France.



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