this year, town mayor the Wor. Henry Hayward has claimed.

The mayor said his prediction was based on the scheduling of two big cruise ships that are bound to be stopped by weather from entering the narrow Town Cut channel.

Mr. Hayward said he was particularly concerned with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Song of America , at 703 feet the longest and largest regular cruise scheduled for the 1993 season.

That ship, along with Chandris Celebrity Cruises' Horizon , could deprive St.

George's businesses of much needed retail sales, he said.

"My main concern is with the Song of America . We're concerned that the vessel is going to bypass the port and end up in Hamilton.'' Mr. Hayward, whose company Meyer Agencies acts as Horizon's local agent, said he was making his points for the people of St. George's, many of whom have felt short-changed when ships missed visits because of weather.

Missed visits became an issue last year when the high-sided Horizon was repeatedly stopped by bad weather from entering the harbour. And on three other occasions, she was forced to delay entering the harbour for a day until winds abated.

Mr. Don McPherson of John S. Darrell Ltd., local agents for Song of America , dismissed Mr. Hayward's comments.

"I don't understand where he's coming from,'' Mr. McPherson said. "What Henry Hayward is saying is `What's all right for me and the Horizon is not all right for you and the Song of America .' "The comment from the Ports Authority is that both of these vessels are borderline in size and that they wouldn't want ships any bigger. Our ship has been tested and approved by the Authority. It hasn't been found to be too big for St. George's.'' But Mr. Hayward said the Song of America broke an agreement that the Horizon would be the maximum sized ship allowed in the port. "Everybody accepts the fact that the Horizon was to be absolutely the maximum for vessels coming to St. George's,'' he said.

Mr. McPherson answered: "If there was any restriction set on size of vessels, I wasn't aware of it.'' Government officials have recognised the danger of big vessels entering the narrow Town Cut and have imposed operational restrictions and requirements.

Neither Horizon nor Song of America will be allowed to enter Town Cut if winds are exceeding 18 knots with gusts beyond 25 knots.

That restriction became mandatory last June after the 682-foot Horizon was nearly blown out of control while trying to leave St. George's Harbour in stormy conditions.

"We've told (RCCL) that under certain weather conditions, they will not enter St. George's,'' Harbour Master Mr. Ian Clark said. "We're very careful on this one. It's the same as for the Horizon .'' Marine and Ports approval was also based on local pilots attending simulated testing of Song of America's manoeuvrability at a US centre. Mr. Clark described Song of America as a "very manoeuvrable ship'' even though she doesn't have the same rudder and thruster power of Horizon .

Mr. Hayward said the bigger ship came about as a result of demand by Hamilton shop owners.

"Because of the pressure from merchants for additional business, they've graduated to the larger ship,'' he said.

"That may be good for Hamilton, but for St. George's it compounds the problem with the likelihood of more missed visits.''