Southampton Port, Hampshire Live Cam

Ships pass the webcam on Southampton Water, on the approach to the largest cruise port and second container port in Britain. The refinery on the far shore is Fawley, the biggest in the country.

The port has an advantage no other has. The Isle of Wight splits the tide, so Southampton gets a long stand of high water and, on many tides, a second high water a couple of hours after the first; deep ships can move for far longer than one tide would allow.

The Titanic sailed from here in April 1912 and most of the crew came from the town, which lost several hundred households in a single night. The docks now handle cars, containers and about two million cruise passengers a year.