Plans revealed for £90m Portsmouth Port upgrade
A 20-year masterplan that will transform Portsmouth Port through a £90m investment has been revealed.
The project will see the number of jobs at the terminal double to 10,000 and facilities for ferry and cruise ship passengers will also be improved.
A new check-in and storage area for freight lorries outside of the port and close to the M27 is also included in the plans .
The masterplan will accelerate over the next five years with work beginning on the existing cruise passenger check-in starting in the Spring.
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The check-in area will be improved with a new building containing a walkway to a bigger berth for larger cruise ships.
Longer term, plans have also been unveiled for water deepening and the construction of two 300-metre berths which will be capable of handling 80 per cent of ships calling into the UK.
The plan also specifies changes to the road infrastructure through modifications to access points at Rudmore Square and Whale Island Way with plans in place to automate check-in processes to reduce congestion.
Mr Vernon-Jackson, the Liberal Democrat leader of Portsmouth City Council, which owns the port, said: "We should be able to create an additional 5,000 jobs in the city and create hundreds of millions of pounds of extra economic activity in Portsmouth.
"Portsmouth is not a rich city. People don't live on big salaries here.
"So to be able to generate that number of jobs and that amount of wealth can make a huge difference in a city like Portsmouth."
The plan also sets out the port's ambition to be carbon neutral from 2030 and to be zero-emission in 2050 with measures to expand the provision of shore power for ships alongside and facilities to cater for hybrid and fully-electric vessels in the future.
Port director Mike Sellers added: "We''re going through probably a once in a generation change in the way trade is moving post-Brexit and post-pandemic, and also that transition towards greener fuels.
"All of that needs infrastructure."
