SOUTHAMPTON has cashed in a multi-million-pound pay cheque after the busiest 48 hours its docks have seen for 40 years.

As thousands of people lined the waterfront yesterday to watch a spectacular parade of some of the most famous ships in the world, the city could count on a cash boost totalling £7m.

Saturday and Sunday saw a total of seven liners and cruise ships coming and going in the port resulting in a hectic two days for dock workers, hotels, bars, taxis, coach companies and the many local suppliers and service providers used by the shipping lines.

As well as the crowds of sightseers and tourists who were attracted to Southampton Water to see the ships, nearly 19,000 passengers used the port's three dockside cruise terminals over the two-day period.

A spokesman for Associated British Ports, owners and operators of Southampton docks, said the last time five cruise ships were in port together would have been in 1966.

As the nation's cruise capital, the industry safeguards about 2,500 shore-side jobs in and around Southampton.

Economists estimate all this commercial activity generated solely by liners and cruise ships using Southampton results in each vessel pouring at least £1m into the city's economy every time it ties up in the docks.

The weekend's busy schedule began with the arrival and departure of Fred Olsen Cruises' Black Watch and P&O Cruises' ship, Arcadia on Saturday. Then yesterday Cunard's Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2, P&O Cruises' Oceana together with Saga Rose and Saga Ruby came alongside the docks and then set sail again.

QE2 had come to the end of her three-month-long annual world cruise and 540 passengers, heading for New York, transferred from the liner to QM2 for the Atlantic crossing and the final leg of their journey.

Boom time

In the city taxi drivers reported almost non-stop fares to and from the port, hotel rooms were at a premium with customers staying overnight before joining one of the ships while cash registers in the stores were ringing loudly as thousands of crew members took the chance of a day in port to do some shopping.

For the crowds that lined every vantage point along Southampton Water the highlight came when QE2 eased herself away from 105 berth in the Western Docks to sail past the huge QM2 berthed at the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal in the Eastern Docks.

It was at 12.45pm that two tugs pulled the great Cunarder out into the main channel of Southampton Water and QE2 then slowly made her way past Mayflower Park and Town Quay, packed with spectators, to sail past QM2.

On the aft deck of QM2 special guests of Cunard gathered to watch the two ships greet and salute each other together with their home port by a series of booming blasts from both liners' whistles.

As the 37-year-old QE2, which was on her way to Bremerhaven in Germany for maintenance and a refit, came past, QM2's loud speaker system on the outside decks played the hit song, You're Beautiful by James Blunt followed by Diana Ross singing, Forever Young.

As QE2 headed down Southampton Water, past a packed Hythe Marina, and out into the Channel, preparations moved into top gear for the late afternoon departure of the other four ships.

Throughout the day three buses shuttled from Mayflower Park to the Eastern and Western Docks and back again taking visitors on tours of the port which will continue throughout the summer.