by ABP Southampton's regional director, Alastair Welch

AS we start the new year, I wanted to update you on a few plans for 2022.

Firstly, I’d like to start say a massive thank you to everyone in our port community, as well as Southampton residents and our partners, for what was a strong 2021 despite the changing landscape presented by the pandemic. Cruise was a great example of this, as the industry pulled together for a safe restart. The port supported 773 days with cruise ships alongside, of which 239 were for passenger operations. It is very good to see this critical industry return to operation, and we look forward to full operations returning later in 2022, with over 400 cruise calls planned. We are pleased to have our new Horizon Cruise Terminal to support the industry’s planned future growth.

This year Southampton will become the first place in the UK to offer shore power for cruise ships, meaning zero emissions at berth. We’re looking forward to welcoming a number of shore-power connected ships to the port and continuing to invest in sustainability-focused infrastructure.

We’re making investments in our rail and road network, including our rail facility at 109 berth on the Western docks, and our road layout for our automotive customers. You may know that Southampton is the number one port for automotive in the country.

There’s new equipment too - from electric minibuses to Tug masters, a merlo crane and new pilot launches.

It’s also been great to welcome new staff to our team, with 57 new staff joining us in 2021 and a number of live vacancies right now. Keep an eye on vacancies page at abports.co.uk

Wishing you a great start to 2022.