Kings Point wharf at the old US naval annex is being considered as a new cruise ship terminal for the day when Hamilton and St. George's Harbours are no longer able to accommodate the luxury liners of the 21st Century, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Head of the bases transition team, Management and Technology Minister the Hon.

Grant Gibbons said there were no immediate plans to create a cruise terminal at King's Point.

"But it may be important in the long run to leave the flexibility for it (to be a cruise terminal),'' he said. "We've talked about it with Tourism but there's no concrete plan at present to recommend a cruise ship terminal be put at the annex.'' Dr. Gibbons said the team, tasked with deciding uses for the vacated US, British and Canadian bases, was "in the midst of various drafts'' and hoped to release the final plan in a month.

He added the old HMS Malabar wharf was also a possibility for a deep-water dock.

He noted experts had predicted the possibility that cruise liners, being built larger and larger -- could one day be too large to get through Town Cut, St.

George's and to turn around in Hamilton Harbour.

"But that's not likely to happen for some time -- five to ten years,'' he said. "So there's no immediate need for a terminal at King's Point. I think the question is to allow the flexibility at some point in the future to put a terminal at the Annex.'' Experts told the The Royal Gazette earlier this week that Bermuda should keep a watchful eye on the ever-increasing size of the world's cruise ships.

The new ships average 800 feet in length and weigh 100,000 tons. By comparison, most cruise ships today are about 700 feet long and weigh 60,000 to 70,000 tons. the new ships are also wider, although there is little difference in draught.

Mrs. Caroline Wills, the Department of Tourism's assistant director for administration, said with the exception of the Royal Majesty in St. George's, agreements for all of Bermuda's regular cruise ship callers would expire in 1999.

Bermuda would watch the situation closely as it negotiated new agreements to succeed those, she said. "That will be a good time for us to be able to review the number of ships versus the number of passengers.'' And Mr. Russell Southern, who recently retired as deputy director of Marine and Ports, said the trend toward larger ships had obvious implications for St.

George's, where dredging and a study of the Town Cut was being conducted.

Because Town Cut was narrow, cruise ships now visiting St. George's have difficulty entering the harbour on windy days, he noted.