Carnival Corp & plc, the Anglo-American cruise shipping group, expects a sharp rise in passenger numbers in the port of Southampton in the UK in the next couple of years.

"The increased number of cruise ships visiting Southampton, coupled with the rising capacity of new ships, means P&O Cruises, Cunard and other brands of the Carnival Group, are expecting passenger volume to increase by 25% at Southampton over the next two years," Associated British Ports (ABP) that owns the port said in a statement.

Steven Young, director of port services & government affairs at Carnival UK said in the statement: “The Carnival cruise business at Southampton continues to go from strength to strength and with the introduction of new larger ships such as P&O Cruises' Britannia, it is important that improvement to the cruise terminals and our passenger journey keeps pace. With the reopened Mayflower terminal we aim to keep this as free flowing and stressless as possible."

AIDA Cruises, the German unit of the Carnival group, will replace seasonal calls of an existing ship to the port with year round calls by the larger, 124,500 gross AIDA Prima once the ship will be delivered by builders in Japan.

Today over 280 of Southampton’s 440 cruise ship calls to the port are by the cruise brands of the Carnival Group, ABP said.