A CRUISE firm has confirmed that up to 50 jobs could be lost from its Southampton HQ.

Carnival UK said it is planning to transfer its Maritime Department , which oversees technical and ship operations, to Hamburg.

The move would bring Cunard and P&O staff under one roof with Aida and Costa in a new centre to be known as Carnival Maritime.

Hamburg is already home to ships of the Aida fleet and is a centre for the construction and refitting of cruise ships.

Cunard’s flagship Queen Mary 2 has just returned to service after a refurbishment in the German port.

Staff in Southampton have been so concerned about the move that they have leaked a memo about Project Doppler, in which Carnival UK admits "the perception is that there will be job losses."

A Carnival spokeswoman said: "There are over 1,000 people employed in Carnival House. The creation of the new maritime operation will affect approximately 50 of these people and no more.”

She added that reports elsewhere saying the IT staff were involved in the move were inaccurate.

The spokeswoman also stressed that Southampton was carnival European HQ and would remain so and the plan was not connected with the EU referendum