THE SOLENT: A CENTRE OF MARITIME GRAVITY

Professor Damon Teagle, Director of the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, outlines the Solent’s unique position, from its geographical strengths to its marine and maritime training and expertise.

Water defines Southampton and the surrounding greater Solent, with hundreds of kilometres of coastline and estuaries hosting the major industrial centres of south-central England tightly juxtaposed against bucolic Hampshire.

However, despite the importance of ships, maritime trade and leisure to the local economy and history, these waters subdivide rather than unite our geography. The dominance of the docks and lack of public accessibility to the waterside mean that many residents never appreciate our city’s connection to the oceans. Indeed, before the establishment of the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, the University of Southampton rarely spoke of its distinctive breadth and depth in ocean-facing research, education, and knowledge exchange.

Our region is the UK’s centre of gravity of maritime trade, research, and innovation. The University of Southampton is the only major research-led Russell Group University in a Freeport.

The deepwater Port of Southampton’s location 22 nautical miles from a global trade maritime superhighway is a distinct geographic advantage, leading to UK’s largest export port and second largest import port. It is the UK’s second largest container port and can accommodate the world’s biggest ships. It is also the UK’s leading port for automotive export and import. Southampton, home to Carnival plc (P&O, Cunard), is the cruise capital of northern Europe, with more than two million passengers embarking annually on increasingly huge, locally provisioned cruise ships. When combined with Portsmouth, the region is the second greatest for ferry operations in the UK. Down Southampton Water on the edge of the New Forest is one of Europe’s largest oil refinery and petrochemical complexes, responsible for 20 per cent of the UK’s energy imports. The Solent is also the leading UK region for leisure marine, hosting Cowes Week and the Southampton International Boat Show, and being the base for the INEOS Team GB America’s Cup team. Portsmouth, meanwhile, is home to the headquarters of the Royal Navy.

This combination of defence, research, trade, and high-performance sailing has led to an innovation ecosystem with leading maritime developers. These include global majors (such as BAE Systems, Saab Seaeye, and L3Harris) and specialist design and engineering groups (such as BAR Technologies, Houlder, and the University of Southampton’s Wolfson Unit), as well as manufacturers such as Griffon Hoverwork, AMC, and Oyster Yachts. The region hosts international technology disrupters including Ocean Infinity and its growing vision of fleets of lean-crewed remotely controlled geotechnical and small cargo vessels. It is home to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the UK Ship Register.

A hidden asset of our region is its comprehensive offering of marine and maritime education and training. The worldleading research acumen of the University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre Southampton is complemented by the maritime seafarer training and facilities of the renowned Warsash Maritime School at Solent University, as well as a range of nautically focused further education colleges. Together with the Royal Navy, also a major training provider, Lloyd’s Register and the MCA national regulator, Southampton and the region hosts a globally significant, comprehensive spectrum of ocean knowledge, research capacity and training.

As the leading research institution in our region, we must connect constructively with these partners to coherently present to the world the Solent as a top-class centre for marine and maritime knowledge.