Landing on the desks of top executives and leading industrials around the world is a glossy book telling the tale of a Southampton success story.

In recent days captains of industry will have read about a business which employees thousands of people, generates millions of pounds for the country and city and puts the name of Southampton on the global stage.

A major force in UK overseas trade, Southampton now leads the country for vehicle import and exports, is the nation's centre for the lucrative cruise industry as well as a vital gateway for container ships.

Associated British Ports (ABP), the owners and operators of Southampton Docks, has just published its annual handbook and review, which is now being sent out to the shipping industry.

Among the many sections in the book is an outline of ABP's proposals for the controversial planned development at Dibden Bay on Southampton Water now undergoing scrutiny at a public inquiry.

"Southampton is one of the few deep-water ports on major international container routes with room for the expansion needed to meet the growing demands of the UK economy,'' says the handbook.

"The land was reclaimed from the sea specifically for this purpose and has been long identified for port developments.''

ABP handles around a quarter of the country's seaborne trade with 21 ports around Great Britain, together with associated companies specialising in terminal operations, containers, haulage and research, many of which are based in Southampton.

For example, ABP subsidiary AMPORTS UK has its headquarters in the city's Western Docks with five operating divisions.

The company's cargo services is a general stevedoring operation, the vehicle terminals provide technical facilities and labour and the vehicle centre delivers a wide-range of work for the automobile market. In addition, AMPORTS Auto Shipping supplies a full range of ship's agency services and the contract personnel division maintains a pool of skilled workers.

In the introduction to Southampton, the city's port director, Andrew Kent says: "The docks are among the UK's most important general cargo ports and currently manage more than 59,000 shipping movements and handle over 37 million tonnes of cargo each year.

"The volume of cargo it handles has grown more than four-fold since the 1960s, and today it is the premier cruise port and second largest container port.

"It is also a major centre for roll-on/roll-off traffic, oil and grain movements.

"More than 10,000 people in the region work in port-related industries.''

SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS - THE FACTS AND FIGURES:

CONTAINERS

Southampton Container Terminals (SCT) operates a four-berth facility and is jointly owned by ABP and P&O Ports.

A third of all container traffic is moved by rail through the nearby dedicated rail freight terminal.

SCT has 13,500 container unit ground slots with 404 spaces for refrigerated unit.

SCT handled 1.16 million container units in 2001, continuing its year-on-year increase through acquisition of new business and growth of existing services.

Southampton's double high water allows the terminals to accommodate larger vessels, with deeper drafts, some carrying more than 6,700 container units.

ABP has made investments of more than £80m over the past five years on improvements to its infrastructure. It is today a major UK hub port, dealing with half of the UK's total trade with the Far East.

CRUISE SHIPS

The country's number one cruise port, Southampton will see around 370,000 passengers use the docks' two terminals.

In 2002, 178 separate cruise ship calls have been booked with the port - more than all its other UK rivals put together.

The number of cruise vessels handled at Southampton has risen by more than 64 per cent in the past five years and the port accounts for more than 40 per cent of the UK's cruise market.

Southampton is the home port to P&O Cruises' and Cunard's UK-based fleet.

Next year will see the arrival of the 150,000-ton Queen Mary 2, the biggest passenger liner the world has ever seen.

ROLL ON/ROLL OFF TRAFFIC

Southampton is the country's leading port for vehicle imports and exports. It handles more than a half a million vehicles a year for most major manufacturers.

The UK's first dockside multi-storey car terminal has just been officially opened in Southampton boosting this sector to even higher levels of activity.

A new ship-to-shore linkspan has been installed effectively creating an additional ro/ro berth to accommodate this expanding trade.

The port regularly accommodates major ro/ro services operating around the world and substantial volumes of heavy-wheeled freight cargoes such as tractors, earth-moving equipment, buses and other commercial vehicles.

DRY BULKS

Two export grain silo terminals in the Eastern Docks handle hundreds of thousands of tons of wheat and barley grown on land around Southampton.

The rail-served bulk terminal at 107 to 109 berths in the Western Docks deals with aggregates, fertilisers, gypsum, marble and glass.

LIQUID BULKS

Each year, around 9.5 million litres of wine and spirits are imported for bottling and distribution at Bacardi Martini's plant in the Western Docks.

The oil refineries at Fawley and BP at Hamble account for about 25 million tonnes of oil and petroleum related products.

FRESH PRODUCE

The Canary Islands Fruit Terminal in the Western Docks is the sole UK facility for imports from Tenerife.

Accommodating two specialist ships simultaneously at adjacent berths, the terminal handles more than two billion tomatoes each year.