A CARGO handling company in Southampton has tackled its busiest ever weekend since setting up shop more than 15 years ago.

It was a case of all hands on deck for 300 staff at Southampton Cargo Handling (SCH) and subsidiary Cruise and Passenger Services (CPS) when six ships arrived in port.

With Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2 both home, as well as two other cruise liners and two roll-on roll-off containers, meticulous planning was needed to ensure that each ship was serviced and completed on time.

SCH business development manager Ian Bennett said: "It was our busiest weekend ever.

"We would normally expect to have up to four ships and it was essential to ensure the right labour and right levels of skills were deployed to all of the ships.

"We had more than 300 staff working on six ships. All the tasks were finished on time to the satisfaction of the clients, thanks to meticulous planning by Southampton Cargo Handling's allocations department and the tremendous hard work and dedication of all our staff.''

CPS works with big-name operators in the cruise industry, like Cunard, P&O, Fred Olsen and RCI.

The first task was a NYK roll-on roll-off ferry. A SCH team of 50 worked through the night to complete the work of unloading 500 cars by the 8am deadline.

Then two more teams began work on QM2 and QE2.

Further crews were assigned to the Fred Olsen cruise ship Braemar and to P&O's Adonia in dry dock. In addition, CPS car parking services handled passenger cars for embarking passengers.

A Eukor roll-on, roll-off vessel also arrived, and a crew of 34 began the unloading and loading of 260 vehicles, including heavy plant.

SCH managing director Roger Webb said: "It was a fantastic achievement that not only did we manage to complete all the work on time, but we did so without any major hiccups."