Portland Port is celebrating a record year in freight volumes, handling nearly 500,000 tonnes of cargo last year.

Figures for 2017 reveal an increase of more than 23 per cent from 2016. Cargo volumes at the port have been increasing over the last five years and bosses say the prospects remain good for the future.

Ian McQuade, general manager, commercial said: “2017 was another highly successful year with regards to cargo volumes, with growth in both the dry bulk and liquid bulk sectors.

“Our long-term vision is for more than one million tonnes of cargo to be traded every year through Portland Port and work is currently underway with our business partners to increase the capacity of our dry bulk handling facilities to accommodate this.” This expansion of existing cargo streams combined with new projects indicate that we are well on our way to achieving our goal.”

Previously a naval dockyard for more than 150 years, Portland Harbour is now a thriving and successful commercial facility.

It maintains a close relationship with the past through its ongoing contract to support the Royal Fleet Auxilliary, as well as being home to the activities of Global Marine and Portland Bunkers UK.

It has almost 2,500 hectares of water at depths of up to 15m and provides vessel services from long term lay-ups to brief maintenance calls, luxury cruise liner docking facilities to industrial cargo shipments.

This year will be another record-breaker for the port as it prepares to welcome more cruise ships than ever before. It is expecting to handle 32 cruise ships bringing nearly 39,000 passengers – 5,000 more than 2017.

The season starts on April 3 with the visit of German cruise line Phoenix Reisen’s Albatros. The Albatros is Portland’s most frequent visiting cruise line, with the April visit being its 21st call at the port. The 2018 cruise ship season will also mark an exciting point in the port’s cruise business development as it will get a visit from the longest vessel to ever dock at the island terminal. On April 25, the port will welcome the inaugural visit of Norwegian Cruise Line’s, Norwegian Breakaway.

This cruise ship can accommodate in excess of 4,000 passengers and will be the longest and heaviest vessel to ever dock at Portland Port.