More than 50,000 tourists used the terminal in the first half of this year, the local port authority (APDL) said on Monday.

To mark its third anniversary, the APDL said the number of passengers between January and June this year was 38% more than in the same period last year.

The APDL said that out of the first 56,423 of 2018, 27% were British, 14% German and 9% Americans, who arrived on ever-larger vessels.

The Leixões Cruise ship terminal can handle most the world’s current fleet of cruise liners up to a limit of 300 metres, but it can, in exceptional circumstances handle even larger ones such as the Mein Schiff 1, that belongs to Tui Cruises, which measures 315 metres.