A MAJOR shake-up of the multi-million pound British cruise industry, which is centred on the port of Southampton, was given the go-ahead yesterday.

Shareholders of Southampton-based, P&O Princess Cruises overwhelmingly voted in favour of the company combining with America's powerful Carnival Corporation creating the world's largest cruise group.

The Carnival/P&O Princess combination is set to drastically change the look of the international cruising business. The combined group will have 66 ships with a further 17 on order equating to 100,000 berths and 42,300 berths respectively.

With 13 separate brands, the Carnival empire is by far the most dominant force in the sector and is almost twice the size of its closest competitor.

Earlier this week, at a meeting in New York, stockholders in Carnival Corporation also gave the thumbs-up to the dual-listed company (DLC) transaction.

P&O Princes Cruises now joins Southampton docks' other big customer, Cunard in the Carnival Corporation stable of companies.

This means Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2 and Caronia and the forthcoming Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria together with P&O Cruises' Oriana and Aurora and, the soon to arrive, Oceana and Adonia, all which are Southampton-based ships, now ultimately come under the Carnival Corporation umbrella.

Micky Arison, who will be chairman and chief executive officer of the combined group, said: "Our primary focus will now be on organic growth and extracting the benefits of the combination for shareholders and customers alike.''