The Southern Joint Branch area covers Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex

There are strong branch links with the Universities of Southampton, Southampton Solent & Portsmouth, the National Oceanographic Centre, Warsash Maritime Academy and HMS Sultan (the Royal Navy Engineering College). There are also links with Industry through the Branch membership due to the wide range of maritime activity taking place in this area.

Southampton is one of the UK’s major container ports, and has the UK’s largest oil refinery at Fawley. For the cruise industry it is the major UK port visited by ships of numerous companies and is home to Carnival Cruise’s, Cunard & P&O Fleets. Southampton is also home to the main headquarters of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and one of the world’s leading classification societies.

The UK’s growing yacht and pleasure craft industry is centred in the area from the River Hamble, along to Poole and across to the Isle of Wight. One of the world’s largest hovercraft manufacturers is based in Southampton and the area is also home to the Jubilee Sailing Trust and the Tall Ships Sailing Trust.

The home of the Royal Navy is Portsmouth Naval Base and its ancillary establishments together with BAE shipbuilding facility, Portsmouth Ferry Terminal and QinetiQ Research are all within our district as is the Marchwood Military Port.