SOUTHAMPTON Container Terminal bosses say they are ready to meet the challenge posed by P&O's Shell Haven container terminal plans.

As reported in the Daily Echo, the government yesterday revealed it was "minded" to approve the £700m plans for a new facility handling 3.5 million containers or teu (twenty-foot equivalent units).

The Thames Gateway development would push SCT into third place in terms of number of containers handled.

It is another hurdle for the business, which is already faced with a downturn in high street demand for goods and question marks over whether it can rely on continuing business from P&O Nedlloyd, one of its biggest customers, following a £1.5 billion merger with rival Maersk.

SCT says its expansion project, which is set to finish next month, has raised capacity from 1.44 million containers to two million and enabled it to compete.

A spokesman for the firm, which employs 800 people and handles 50 per cent of the UK's trade with far east, admitted the market was set to get far more competitive, with plans for an extension to Felixstowe, already Britain's biggest container terminal, also awaiting approval.

Derek Smith of SCT, pictured, said: "It is very difficult to tell at this stage what will happen. A lot is dependent on the growth of UK Plc.

"Company thinking is that Shell Haven is good for the country and this announcement takes away the uncertainty around what is going to happen.

"Where the business goes is dictated by the market and that's going to get more crowded. That is why we are making ourselves ready to fight the competition.

"We are absolutely confident we are geared up for the challenge. We will do whatever we need to do."