The Southampton Hospitals Charity, which provides much needed items for patients and staff at hospitals across Hampshire, is today the recipient of a £10,000 donation thanks to the combined work of Business Stream, Southern Water, Associated British Ports (ABP) Port of Southampton and Carnival UK, the parent company of P&O Cruises and Cunard.
Due to the berthing of five Carnival UK ships in the Port of Southampton, following the pause in operations due to Covid-19; Southern Water is waiving operational charges, and this money will instead be given by Carnival UK to the Hampshire Hospitals Charity as a £10,000 donation. The charity supports the work of the National Health Service in Hampshire.
Business Stream, which looks after the water retail services for ABP Southampton, worked with Southern Water, responsible for the management of the local water network, to provide the support they required. Southern Water agreed to waive the charges and the equivalent amount has now been donated to the charity.
Carnival UK, vice president port and shore operations, Steven Young said: “We really welcome Southern Water’s suggestion to waive their charges as they, like us, were not expecting our ships to be in Southampton at the current time, and we are delighted that this money can instead go to the work of the National Health Service in Hampshire. Thank you to Business Stream, Southern Water and ABP Southampton for providing the facilities needed by our ships and coming together to create this innovative solution.”
Business Stream, chief executive, Jo Dow said: “We were delighted to be able to play a role in helping Carnival UK identify a solution to safely discharge their waste water whilst docked in Southampton. And it is fantastic to hear that Southern Water waived the fee, given the unprecedented circumstances, and that this has now been paid forward to the Hampshire Hospitals Charity”.
Joff Edevane, Growth Planning Lead at Southern Water, said: “We were pleased to be able to lend our expertise to resolve this issue in unprecedented times and play our part in recognising and supporting the NHS in Hampshire. Various technical issues and checks needed to be undertaken quickly to ensure our assets and the environment were protected and we thank Carnival UK and our operational teams for their input into this work.”
Alastair Welch, Regional Director at the Port of Southampton, added: “We were delighted to support our valued customers Carnival UK in this great charitable initiative. This is an excellent example of the port community coming together to make a positive difference to a local charity.”
