[image|/upload/gallery/8225.jpg|ABP celebrated the 175th anniversary of the Port of Southampton last week.
|AlignRight]The Associated British Ports (ABP) organised a champagne reception at London's Trinity House to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Port of Southampton and to mark the beginning of London International Shipping Week last week.

Over one hundred guests attended the event, including David Jones, secretary of state for Wales; Stephen Hammond, parliamentary under-secretary of state for transport; and Thambynathan Jasudasen, the high commissioner of Singapore.

ABP CEO James Cooper announced the findings of the group's recent economic impact study, showing that in 2012, ABP contributed GBP5.6 billion (USD8.9 billion) to the UK economy and supported 84,000 jobs. The study by Arup also demonstrates that ABP's current planned investment of GP450 million (USD716 million) promises an extra GBP1.6 billion (USD2.5 billion) for the economy.

Cooper said: "ABP was delighted to welcome so many distinguished guests to mark London International Shipping Week and celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Port of Southampton.

"The excellent turnout was also, of course, a tribute to the Port of Southampton's ongoing success as a leading international gateway. For example, a recent independent study by the Journal of Commerce has found that Southampton is the most efficient container port in Europe.

Other guests included Philip Rutnam, permanent secretary at the Department for Transport; Lucy Chadwick, director general of the International, Security and Environment Group within the Department for Transport; and Sir Alan Massey, chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Representatives of constituencies in which a number of ABP's operations are based were also present, including John Denham, MP for Southampton Itchen and Alan Johnson, MP for Hull West & Hessle.

Held from 9-13 September, London International Shipping Week (LISW) is a new industry event focusing on London's role in the development of global shipping. Industry functions planned last week provided plenty of networking opportunity for leaders in all sectors of the international shipping industry.

The UK accounts for 21% of premiums in international marine insurance, over USD64 billion in committed ship finance and it has the largest concentration of legal service firms specialising in the sector. LISW was organised by Shipping Innovation, a joint venture ¬of Elaborate Communications and Petrosport in association with Maritime UK partners The Baltic Exchange, Maritime London, and the UK Chamber of Shipping, and with TheCityUK, the independent promotional body for UK financial and professional services.