Why a new cruise ship pier?

Ships longer than 710 ft and larger than 55,000 gross registered tons (GRT) cannot dock in St. George's or Hamilton. Any larger ships must go to the single cruise berth in Dockyard, King's Wharf.

Our research has shown that the majority of new cruise ships being built today are too large to transit Town Cut in St. George's and Two Rock Passage in Hamilton. The older and smaller ships that once docked in St. George's and Hamilton have been retired or sold to developing markets in Asia and South America. Over the past three years, the Norwegian Crown, Celebrity Zenith, Celebrity Horizon and Empress of the Seas have all been sold by the major cruise lines. All of these ships were once deployed to Bermuda.

The Cruise Ship Order book, published by the publication Seatrader Insider, and readily available on the Internet, shows as of the end of June 2008, 38 new cruise ships were either on order of being planned to be delivered between 2008 and 2012. Excluding riverboat orders only three new orders are less than 55,000 gross registered tons, with the remaining substantially larger; too large to enter St. George's or Hamilton. Clearly the trend in shipbuilding towards larger cruise ships continues. Although there are still some smaller ships they are mostly deployed on world-wide cruise itineraries.

In order to remain competitive we took the proactive stance to meet the industry trend of newer and larger ships. During the planning phase we consulted with the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George's, the West End Development Corporation, the Chamber of Commerce, the National Trust, the Marine Resources Board and other groups to determine the best way to move forward.

In addition to the Dockyard option we also examined other options: widening Town Cut in St. George's; widening Two Rock Passage in Hamilton; developing a new pier at Morgan's Point; and developing a new cruise pier at Murray's Anchorage outside St. George's. Modifying Town Cut and Two Rock Passage would have caused significant environmental damage as would development of a new pier at Morgan's Point and Murray's Anchorage.

Dockyard was selected for the development of the new cruise pier for three primary reasons;

• The Dockyard area is an established deep water cruise port, with the larger and longer ships already docking there for the past four years.

• We have developed excellent public transport links from Dockyard to other parts of Bermuda. The ferry system provides over 20 trips to/from Hamilton each day and another six to St. George's. Public buses are frequent and additional minibus services have started over the past few years. In 2008, a new free train service was introduced to move cruise passengers from the ship to the destinations in the area.

• Developing the new cruise pier at Dockyard will enable Dockyard to reach its true potential as a first class tourism destination. Since announcing the new pier, new businesses have opened and there will be more opportunities to come.

We believe Dockyard is best suited to become the major cruise port in Bermuda, particularly as we reduce the number of cruise ships in St. George's and Hamilton.

What changes in cruise ship traffic can we expect?

Actually, the number of cruise visitors will decrease after the new cruise pier is completed. Historically, we have had five cruise ships in Bermuda at one time; two in St. George's, two in Hamilton and one in Dockyard. In 2007, we had more than 345,000 cruise visitors, often exceeding 10,000 cruise visitors on Island at one time. For 2009, when the new cruise pier opens, we are projecting approximately 284,000 annual cruise visitors, and more importantly, no more than 8,500 on Island at any one time. This is because we will have no scheduled weekly ships in Hamilton and only one in St. George's.

Equally important is how the ships are scheduled to arrive in Bermuda. Historically, we have had two ships arrive in Bermuda at the same time on Mondays and three ships arrive at the same time on Tuesdays, spread over the three ports. At times, this impacted our ability to provide transport services for all of the ships. In 2009, we will have one ship arrive on Sunday, two arrive on Monday (one in St. George's and one in Dockyard) and one arrive on Wednesday. This will enable us to better manage the flow of cruise ship passengers on our public and private transport systems.

Perhaps the most significant change is in the number of cruise ships moving from port to port. In the past we frequently moved ships from Hamilton to St. George's and had a high percentage of ships staying at Dockyard for only one day. We are of the opinion that the constant movement of ships between ports is potentially detrimental to the marine environment and this has been supported by past studies including those conducted by the National Trust.

Starting this year we have dramatically reduced the number of ship movements and this will continue in 2009 when we complete the new cruise pier. In 2007 we had approximately 560 cruise ship movements in and out of Hamilton, St. George's and Dockyard. For 2009 we are projecting approximately 300 ship movements, a reduction of over 45 percent. This is due to fewer ships in Hamilton and St. George's and the larger ships replacing the smaller ships. We are minimising the impact on the environment.

Will the ships coming to Bermuda be larger?

No. We are not planning to bring any ships to Bermuda on a regular basis that do not already come here. The Explorer of the Seas and the Caribbean Princess are the largest ships sailing to Bermuda and we have no plans to accept ships larger than those on a regular basis.

Previous articles in this newspaper inaccurately stated Bermuda is preparing to receive 'mega' sized cruise ships like the Queen Mary 2 which carries 5,000 to 6,000, according to BEST. In fact, the QM2 carries 2,800 passengers at capacity. It may also help to point out that Cunard approached us to see if we would consider having the QM2 come to Bermuda and we turned the request down because it would have required significant dredging of the North Channel to accommodate the ship.

Has there been an Environmental Impact Statement?

Yes. We have submitted a full Environmental Impact Statement and have been proactive in addressing the environmental concerns including those of Dolphin Quest, reducing noise by developing a vibratory pile driving technique, conducting water quality and noise monitoring, all of which is ongoing. We have also been proactive in working with the Historic Wrecks Advisory Board and other agencies in ensuring the environmental impact has been adequately addressed.

Regarding the economic benefits of the cruise industry, talk to taxis drivers, bus tour operators and tour boats operators. Dockyard is experiencing a boom in the development of its tourism product in no small part due to the announcement of the development of the new cruise pier. The cruise industry contributes up to $80 million to Bermuda's economy annually.

Is the new cruise policy sustainable?

Yes. We believe we have developed a strategy for a sustainable cruise product, while addressing some of the environmental issues brought to our attention in the past.

Reducing the number of cruise visitors on Island at any one time, better managing the deployment of ships so no two ships arrive or depart at the same time, and significantly reducing the number of cruise ship movements will enable a more sustainable and better managed cruise product. Focusing on Dockyard, where we already have a well developed transport and tourism infrastructure will enable better management of our tourism product.