ASSOCIATED British Ports (ABP), owners and operators of Southampton Docks have reported an underlying group pre-tax profit of more than £65 million for the first six months of 2004, up seven per cent compared with 2003.

Although still smarting over the government's refusal to give the go-ahead for a world-class terminal at Dibden Bay on Southampton Water, ABP said turnover in the city's port has increased by five per cent in the first half of the year with growth in cruise traffic, the container trade, roll-on/roll-off business and volumes of export vehicles.

However, the failed application for the Dibden Terminal did make an impact on the ABP group figures.

Bo Lerenius, group chief executive, said: "As previously indicated, the write-off of substantially all costs related to this project resulted in an exceptional charge of £44.9million.

"Consequently, pre-tax profit for the period decreased by 69 per cent to £20.1 million and basic earnings per share declined by 74 per cent to 3.8p.''

Throughput at Southampton Container Terminals (SCT) increased by more than five per cent compared to the volumes during the same period in 2003.

Southampton remains the number one vehicle handling port in the UK with the trade increasing by five per cent compared to the first half of last year.

The city leads the UK cruise market with 214,000 passengers passing through the docks' three terminals in the initial six months of this year, an increase of 30 per cent compared to last year.