Portsmouth's New Passenger Terminal
By Mike Deegan, Head of Fleet Operations
Noble Caledonia has used Portsmouth as an embarkation / disembarkation port for over 10 years (we call it a turnaround port). The port is very easy for us to operate in (another time I shall detail the way we store, fuel and clean your cruise ship on a turnaround day) but more importantly, for you, our valued guests, it is easy to get to. It enjoys its own dedicated exit off the M275 motorway, rail links are excellent, Southampton Airport is close by and when you get there, there is ample secure parking on site. Furthermore for those cruises which start and finish at Portsmouth we can arrange for you to enjoy valet parking via our friends at Cruise & Passenger Services (CPS).
Over the last 10 years we have grown used to using the modern, spacious and airy passenger terminal and many of you will have got to know the regular staff there who help check you in (Helen, Beks, Rachel), take your cabin luggage from you to have it ready (Tom and the team,) in your cabin when you arrive on board or undertake security procedures (Steve and his friendly and efficient team) or serve you coffee on the mezzanine level (Jon and his team). All is superbly overseen by Louis as Cruise Operations Manager and Andy as Passenger Operations Manager. I am sure you will have come across one or more of this group if you have joined or left a Noble Caledonia cruise in Portsmouth.
Up until this year we have shared the building with the ferry traffic as it prepares to cross the Channel. In reality this has only been the foot passengers as vehicle passengers are managed elsewhere on the port estate. Even then we only share the building for an hour or so at lunchtime as the ferries that regularly ply their regular routes from Portsmouth tend to depart either prior to our arrival in the morning or after we have departed in the evening apart from a couple of lunchtime departures. However from Summer 2023 the port will separate ferry and cruise passengers when they open the new cruise annexe currently nearing completion. I recently visited Portsmouth to look over the construction of this new structure and to design the use of it by us here at Noble Caledonia.
Access to the new annexe
Entry and exit from the terminal will still be as it has been via the current structure but a new cruise annexe is being constructed at the seaward end of the building. Access on foot will be via a light and airy passage from the current mezzanine level seating area (beyond the coffee shop) over the current bus loading bay (which will only serve the ferries once the cruise annexe is opened) and where a large picture window will provide views across the port generally and the Royal Dockyard beyond. This will lead to a huge check-in area on the first floor of the new building which will also feature large TV screens on which we can run footage of your and previous cruises. There will be access however for those guests arriving in cars to drive to the new structure and offload bags directly into the luggage security screening area through an access door before driving back to the front of the building to offload guests to enter. Those of you arriving by one of our transfer coaches will also enter as now at the front of the building before the coach re-positions to the side of the new building to offload cabin bags directly into the security screening area. A very large Sky Garden will provide outside seating overlooking the port and adjacent to Ceano’s Coffee Shop for those wishing to relax and take in the busy port operations ahead of moving through security to the pre-boarding waiting area.
Safe and secure
As an operator of internationally trading passenger vessels we have to comply with the ISPS Port Security code. Roughly this equates to the security provisions in an international airport and requires all visitors and passengers and a percentage of the bags to be X-rayed. It also requires security staff to select and search, via a pat-down search, a percentage of those passing through the security area. I know some of you feel uncomfortable about this but I want to assure you there is nothing personal about how those for further search are selected (more often or not it is because security staff have detected a banned item being taken through the X-ray scanner, eg large bottles of liquid, pen-knife or metal on the person rather than in the X-Ray machine trays) and all security staff are trained in search techniques.
L to R : Jason Ellam-Brown - Senior Project Manager, Andy Williamson – Passenger Operations Manager, Louis Colpitts – Cruise Operations Manager and myself in what will become the outward baggage screening and return baggage reclaim area on the ground floor as construction progresses.
The new annexe features a much larger security area just beyond the check-in area than in the existing building. There will be 4 X-Ray scanners which should speed up movement in this area so the queues we have sometimes seen should become a thing of the past. Once through the security search area there is a light, high-ceiling secure Cruise Lounge. This area also has a huge viewing window that was part of the design – this looks down straight down the port and out across Fareham Creek and you will easily be able to see your ship from here as we work to ready it for your embarkation.
Once embarkation is called you will be invited to descend to the ground floor in one of the large lifts (max 35 people but we shall never load more than 15 at a time) or via the stairs to where the transfer bus will take you out to the berth for embarkation. Only cruise guests will use this bus boarding area – as I said previously ferry passengers will undergo security procedures and bus boarding in the existing structure.
Our intrepid group seen in front of what will become the large viewing window in the post-security waiting area. In fact the window will be larger than this – it is currently weather proofed during construction.
Haste ye back!
If you are disembarking in Portsmouth, your journey through the terminal will be through the ground floor only. Bags will be disembarked first and laid out in the spacious baggage reclaim hall which is just adjacent to where guests alight from the port transfer bus from the berth. Once your bag is identified the route through the terminal is via a large corridor to the right of the reclaim hall into the area where the Border Force passport desks are located. From there you emerge via one-way doors into the ground floor of the existing terminal and from there friendly staff will direct you to waiting transfer coaches, to the valet parking desk or to waiting friends and relatives.
Sustainable design
I am especially excited about some of the sustainable features incorporated into the design of the new annexe. The structure is deigned to be carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon zero by 2050. future. A variety of green technology will help to achieve this. On the roof and south side of the building are multiple solar panels which will generate power. Smart batteries will be installed to store power as it is generated will also help to reduce the carbon footprint. Air quality sensors and “air catchers” will monitor and cool the interior environment naturally. An underfloor heating system provided by seawater has been installed. Extensive “Living Walls” of vegetation will be installed to provide sustainable environmental cleansing solutions as well as being a stunning visual feature. There will be Living Walls in both the check-in area and in the Cruise Lounge.
Opening soon
The port management hope to be able to commission the new annexe from this Summer so whilst some of the earlier embarkations at Portsmouth this year will utilise existing infrastructure, we are hopeful that by mid-Summer we shall be using the new terminal facilities there. We look forward to being able to welcome you to the start of your Noble Caledonia holiday from Portsmouth in even grander style from then!