CAR shipping giant Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) has renewed a key contract with Jaguar Land Rover to ship tens of thousands of the luxury vehicles out of Southampton.

The deal extends the decades-old relationship between the two firms for a further five years and will see WWL shipping more than 45,000 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles a year from Southampton to North America, Australia and New Zealand.

It’s a welcome boost for the sector – the hardest hit of the so-called three Cs, the cars, cruise and container businesses that form the vast majority of the port’s business.

The number of cars crossing the quayside had plummeted by a third – equivalent to quarter of a million vehicles.

Jaguar XK, XF and new XJ models are delivered by rail to WWL’s Southampton hub from the Castle Bromwich plant in the West Midlands. The Freelander model is also being transported by rail from the Halewood plant. They are then be loaded on to huge specialist car carriers and shipped to Baltimore, Brunswick and Port Hueneme in the United States; Halifax in Canada and Fremantle, Melbourne and Port Kembla in Australia and Auckland in New Zealand.

John Speakman, WWL UK managing director, said: “This new contract is very significant for us. It further extends our partnership with two of the world's most prestigious vehicle brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, during what has been a tough economic climate for both companies.”