The UK’s Portland Port in Dorset is looking ahead to a bumper 2025 after it welcomed more than 117,000 pax on a total of 52 cruise ships last year.
Portland hosted cruise ship calls on 10 out of 12 calendar months – every month apart from January and March – from 18 different operators.
The port also fielded more enquiries than ever about unscheduled visits, which resulted in a record nine short-notice calls, including Cunard’s ‘Queen Mary 2’ on 1st June. These calls were due to weather conditions elsewhere or strike action in France.
Last year’s highlights also included the first call by Princess Cruises’ 345 m long ‘Sun Princess’ with 4,300 pax on her maiden season.
After ships berth at the port’s £26 mill deepwater quay, passengers embarked on organised tours to a range of destinations or boarded the port’s complimentary shuttle bus service into Weymouth.
The calls contributed about £10 mill to the local economy, based on statistics from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) for spend per passenger.
Now the port is gearing up for the 2025 season when there are 60 cruise ships provisionally booked to call with over 100,000 pax.
This will include five turnaround calls by the luxury Hebridean Island Cruises’ ‘Hebridean Princess’, which carries just 50 guests.
This year, will be the fourth consecutive season since Covid with over 50 calls and 100,000 guests. It will also be a record call number for a normal cruise season.
There will also be inaugural visits in 2025, including the first calls by luxury cruise line Silversea and expedition cruise line Albatros Expeditions.
The first call of 2025 was a short notice visit by the ‘Spirit of Discovery’, with just under 1,000 pax on board, at the start of a 49-day trip to the Caribbean and South America.
She was diverted to Portland on 7th January, due to bad weather conditions elsewhere.
Ian McQuade, Portland Port General Manager Commercial and Cruise Britain Chair, said: “It has been another highly successful cruise season and one of our best so far.
“Positive feedback from cruise lines and their passengers demonstrates just how much they enjoy coming to Portland for the array of local attractions and warm welcome they receive.
“The sustained demand for calls and the record number of short-notice visits is testament to relentless work behind the scenes by a dedicated team to attract and accommodate ships and bring circa £10 mill to the local economy.
“It also justifies the faith shown to open our £26 mill deepwater berth in 2023 to accommodate some of the world’s largest vessels of up to 350 m in length.
“We are very grateful to all those who have contributed to the success in 2024 and have made passengers feel so welcome, including our dedicated welcome team, shuttle bus operators and all those in local shops and businesses.
“We are looking forward to another busy season in 2025 and further ahead as Portland continues to grow in popularity,” he said.
At the end of 2024, McQuade was re-elected to serve a further three-year term as Cruise Britain Chair.
He initially took the reins of the trade group in April, 2023 on an interim basis before being confirmed in the role full time.
Last year, there were five double cruise call days when the port hosted two ships at the same time on the deepwater berth.
This included 15th October when the greatest number of pax – 7,954 – arrived in a single day on the Holland America Line’s ‘Rotterdam’ and MSC Cruise’s ‘MSC Virtuosa’, which also provided the highest number of passengers on a single ship of 5,441.
The final cruise call of 2024 was the ‘AIDAmar’ on 10th December with 2,097 pax.
Typically, about 50% of visiting cruise ship guests go on organised excursions, the majority of which stay in Dorset.
The Portland Port estate provides employment for around 300 people in non-seasonal work. Out of this total, the port directly employs 57.
