Southampton docks enjoy busiest day with 22,000 passengers in 12 hours

With four cruise ships alongside both the Eastern and Western Docks, including two of the biggest vessels in the world, all of the port’s quayside terminals were working at full stretch.

Saturday was also the first day of operation for the new £19m Ocean Terminal, completed in time for the start of Southampton’s 2009 summer cruise season, the most hectic on record.

The port not only handled many thousands of people but the shore-side staff at the terminals also dealt with an almost constant convoy of coaches, taxis, lorries, shuttle buses, and private cars arriving and departing from the berths.

It had a knock-on effect for traffic trying to get into the city centre with jams going all the way from Ikea in West Quay Road along Mountbatten Way back almost to the Regents Park Road junction.

P&O ship Oceana had the distinction of being the first vessel to use the state-of-the-art building in the Eastern Docks, opposite the site of the old Ocean Terminal after which the new development has been named.

The Ocean Terminal’s baggage system, check-in desks and security procedures all underwent a thorough test as more than 4,500 people passed through the building during the day.

Not far away, at 38/9 berth, was the imposing shape of the 108,800-ton, Grand Princess, where about 3,000 guests were disembarking as the ship prepared for a similar number of passengers to embark at the beginning of another cruise.

At the City Cruise Terminal, next door to Mayflower Park in the Western Docks, the 158,000- ton Independence of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, was the centre of intense activity as about 8,000 people crossed the dockside as they departed or embarked the Royal Caribbean International ship.

Further along the Western Docks, at the Mayflower Terminal, the crew of a second P&O ship, Oriana, were saying farewell to almost 2,000 passengers, and then later welcoming the same number of new guests on board.