UK's 'greenest cruise terminal' officially opened in Southampton

Horizon Cruise Terminal inside Dock Gate 10 features over 2,000 solar panels on its roof

A new cruise terminal at the Port of Southampton - claimed to be the UK's greenest - has been officially opened.

The £55m Horizon Cruise Terminal uses 2,000 roof-mounted solar panels and clean energy shore power plug-in charging for cruise ships.

Using shore-side power cruise ships can turn off their engines in port to reduce pollution.

It was opened earlier by maritime minister Robert Courts, who then went on to tour the city's boat show.

Mr Courts said: "As the cruising sector bounces back from the pandemic, it's important that our environmental commitments are at the heart of everything we do. 

"Building state-of-the-art green infrastructure at cruise terminals helps us move towards cleaner cruising, creating more spaces for these ships to dock and putting us on track to hit net zero by 2050. "

MSC Virtuosa was the first cruise ship to take passengers onboard from the terminal in July ahead of its formal opening

The name for the city's fifth cruise terminal was chosen through a competition which saw over 4,000 name suggestions come in from across the world.

The other four are named Queen Elizabeth II Cruise Terminal, City Cruise Terminal, Ocean Cruise Terminal and Mayflower Cruise Terminal.

The terminal received support from the Solent LEP and a grant of £8m from the Government's Getting Building Fund.

A second shore power connection is also being installed at The Mayflower terminal.