Portsmouth Port set for £90m upgrade over 20 years

Portsmouth Port is investing £90m to upgrade its facilities as part of a 20-year masterplan.

The redevelopment is expected to double the number of jobs at the port to 10,000 and improve facilities for ferry and cruise ship passengers.

Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said the changes would "create hundreds of millions of pounds of extra economic activity".

Plans include a new check-in area for cross-Channel freight outside the city.

Most of the work will take place within the first five years, with work to replace the existing cruise passenger check-in starting in the Spring.

The area is currently based in a marquee held down by concrete blocks.

It will be replaced with a new building containing a walkway to a bigger berth for larger cruise ships, which will be plugged into shoreside electric power.

The port aims to be carbon neutral from 2030.

Within two years work will begin on a check-in facility for up to 400 lorries outside the city, close to the M27.

There will also be modifications to the Rudmore roundabout, where traffic leaves the motorway to enter the port.

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."

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."

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