HE has been the driving force behind one of the most successful ports in Britain.

Now Andrew Kent the port director at Associated British Ports in Southampton, is to stand down.

Mr Kent, 56, has spent more than 15 years running the thriving port, which generates an estimated £1.6 billion every year for the local economy.

He is to retire at the end of next March. His replacement will be Doug Morrison, 53, currently the director for ABP's Hull and Goole ports.

Mr Kent is one of the city's most influential businessmen. He has run the port, upon which 10,000 jobs are reliant, since the abolition of the National Dock Labour Scheme in 1989.

It has now grown to the point where double-tide Southamp-ton is the UK's number one cruise port, the leading port for vehicle handling, and home to the second-largest deep-sea container terminal in Britain.

The retirement announcement comes just months after his colleague, Captain Jimmy Chestnutt, retired. He was the port assistant harbour master and the project manger of the £600m scheme for a world-class container port at Dibden Bay.

The controversial plan was rejected on environmental and necessity grounds by a government inspector in April, which cost ABP nearly £45m.

Mr Kent said: "I have enormous satisfaction in having played my part in developing Southampton into one of the most successful ports in the UK. After more than 15 years in one job, however, I have decided it is time for me to move on."

Paul Vickers, who headed the pressure group Residents Against Dibden Bay, described Mr Kent as "always polite and courteous".

He added: "I do wish him all the best for his retirement."