Customers collected their brand-new Model Ys from Horizon Cruise Terminal
Port of Southampton hosts Tesla Model Y first deliveries event
The Port of Southampton’s Horizon Cruise Terminal hosted Tesla’s Model Y First UK Deliveries event on Saturday 19 February.
As the UK’s No.1 port for automotive, Southampton handles around 900,000 vehicles per year and is the UK hub for Tesla imports. Model Y is Tesla’s much anticipated right-hand drive SUV. New owners collected their electric Model Ys after being welcomed to a customer experience by Tesla inside Horizon Cruise Terminal.
Horizon Cruise Terminal was a fitting venue for an event to mark the delivery of vehicles celebrated for their sustainability credentials. The building is known as the UK’s greenest cruise terminal and generates its own energy from more than 2000 roof-mounted solar panels. Its striking spruce roof – showcased inside the building - is from a sustainably managed European forest, and its lighting control system has daylight harvesting, automatically adjusting to the level of daylight in the building. Horizon will also be home to the UK’s first shore power facility for cruise ships when it is commissioned this spring, for zero emissions at berth.
Complementing this is the Port of Southampton’s ideal location on the South Coast, with excellent transport infrastructure and access to deep sea shipping lanes, ideal to support import and export business.
“We are really proud to have been able to support Tesla with this exciting event,” says Paul Reeves, ABP Southampton’s Head of Commercial. “Our expertise and position as the UK’s premier automotive port means we have the infrastructure and resources our partners need. It has been great to be able to celebrate this exciting milestone with Tesla.”
The Port of Southampton’s investment in its automotive service includes inventory linking and a terminal operating system to swiftly process vehicles and give manufacturers complete visibility of their movements, to its 24-hour expert stevedoring service to safely move vehicles for their onward destination.
“I would like to thank our stevedoring and service delivery teams for their amazing work on this project,” says Craig Barbour, ABP Southampton’s General Manager of Landside Operations. “In particular, Tom Hughes, Kieron Cowley, Barry Ward, Lex Hanham and Spencer Haysom have really gone above and beyond in working with Tesla to prepare the cars for collection and in supporting the event inside the terminal - all in all delivering a brilliant experience for customers. We wish the new owners a fantastic time with their Model Ys.”
