SLOWLY, with painstaking accuracy, the giant 400-ton metal block was lowered into place and Southampton's newest passenger liner, the £300m Queen Victoria, was due to make a major step forward in becoming a reality today.

Next year the new Cunard ship is due to make her entrance into the port of Southampton.

In the meantime Queen Victoria, set to enter service in December 2007, will take shape at a shipyard in Venice.

The positioning of the section of the ship's hull during Queen Victoria's keel-laying ceremony marks the beginning of the construction phase that will continue until next January, when the liner enters the water for the first time.

Throughout 2007 the task of fitting out the liner and installing the ship's internal systems will be carried out at Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard before Queen Victoria undergoes extensive sea trials and is then officially handed over to Cunard in the December.

Queen Victoria, which will travel at 23 knots, will carry the name of Southampton and fly the traditional Red Ensign when she leaves from the docks on the start of her maiden voyage not long before Christmas next year.

The naming ceremony will take place in Southampton but Cunard is remaining tight-lipped about who will be the guest of honour, although the Queen has performed the duty for the line's other vessels, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2.

Carol Marlow, Cunard's president and managing director, told the guests at the shipyard ceremony: "Queen Victoria is more a triumph of style than of size. This will be the first time in our 166-year history that the Cunard fleet has had three Queen vessels."

The Cunarder will become a regular sight in the city's port and it is estimated that it will generate in excess of £25m a year for the local economy.

Queen Victoria, which will carry more than 2,000 passengers and 900 crew members, is the second-largest ship ever built for Cunard and is scheduled to depart from Southampton in January, 2008, on her 106-night maiden world cruise, which will call at 37 cities in 23 countries.

For the complete voyage passengers will pay from £10,999 per person for an inside cabin right up to £115,869 each for the ship's most sumptuous suites.