Transport Minister: Smaller Cruise Ships
Minister of Transport Terry Lister today provided clarification on the availability of smaller cruise ships capable of docking in St. George’s and Hamilton.
A statement released by the Ministry said, “The channel approaches at St. George’s and Hamilton have significant physical limitations in respect to safe passage of cruise ships.”
“Generally, ships more than 680’ long and 94’ wide, depending on handling characteristics, cannot safely navigate through Town Cut in St. George’s. Hamilton Harbour has similar restrictions, with ships generally longer than 720’ not being able to transit Two Rock Passage and dock in Hamilton.”
“The Ministry recently completed a study of Bermuda’s Shipping Channels to accommodate the larger cruise ships being built today. A section of the study addresses the issue of the availability of smaller cruise ships.”
“The methodology used to determine the number of cruise ships capable of docking in St. George’s and Hamilton included conducting research on the length, width and depth of cruise ships currently in service, review of new cruise ships currently or on order and interviews with cruise lines in respect to future plans for their smaller ships and their new builds.”
“The analysis revealed there are 165 cruise ships currently in operation that are available to serve the North American and European markets. Of that total, 139 are too large to transit Town Cut in St. George’s, leaving only 26 that can successfully transit Town Cut. There are approximately 30 ships available that can transit Two Rock Passage and dock in Hamilton, including the Veendam and her 3 sister ships.”
“Interviews conducted with the cruise lines operating these ships revealed that the average age of the 26 smaller ships that can safely transit Town Cut is 14 years, with 9 of the ships scheduled for retirement within the next few years. In addition, of the 19 cruise ships currently on order by cruise lines, 1 will be capable of transiting through Town Cut.”
“Of the 26 ships capable of safely transiting Town Cut, 22 are operated by Luxury cruise lines Seabourn Cruises, Silversea Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Princess Cruises and Holland America Line.”
“All of these brands operate world-wide itineraries or visit exotic destinations such as Tahiti, Galapagos and South America. Cruise lines are able to charge significantly higher ticket prices to these destinations than they would for weekly cruises to Bermuda.”
“Bermuda has been successful in attracting many of these Luxury brands, and is scheduled to see over 20 cruise visits from Silverseas, Oceania, Regent Seven Seas, Princess Cruises and Azamara during 2011 and 2012. This only leaves a few ships operated by lines such as Costa and MSC Cruises, which are deployed in South America or the Mediterranean. These ships cater exclusively to the Italian market.”
Minister Lister said, “Ministry staff frequently meet with cruise lines operating smaller ships to see if they can be deployed to Bermuda. The fact is the majority of smaller cruise ships that are capable of docking in St. George’s and Hamilton are either Luxury brands operating world-wide cruises and often visiting exotic destinations such as Galapagos or Tahiti.”
“Cruise lines have consistently told us that North America, the Caribbean and Bermuda are primarily large ship markets, and the older and smaller ships with fewer on-board amenities have a difficult time competing with the newer ships in the market place. Nevertheless, we continue to aggressively pursue the possibility of finding smaller ships that are capable of docking in St. George’s and Hamilton,” added Minister Lister.
This information above is from the recent ‘Study of Bermuda’s Shipping Channels.’ The Ministry of Transport will be conducting a series of Town Hall meetings to solicit input from the public on the Study, which examined improvements that may be required to bring in larger ships along the North Channel, into Hamilton Harbour, and through Town Cut to St. George’s. The public can view the options presented in the study starting half an hour before the meeting presentations start.
The meetings are scheduled as follows:
- Tuesday, 11th October at St. James Church Hall, Sandys, starting at 7:00 pm with the presentation at 7:30 pm,
- Wednesday, 12th October at the Cathedral Church Hall, starting at 6 p.m. with the presentation at 6.30 p.m.
- Thursday, 13th October at Penno’s Wharf, St. George’s starting at 7 p.m. with the presentation at 7.30 p.m.
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All this destruction of heritage and ecosystem for the purpose of bringing the cruise passenger on shore where they don’t spend a whole lotta money. Designate an island for. Lets put some options before the people without asking them to consider dredging and blowing up islands. What do other small islands do? Are there alternatives
What I don’t get is why they aren’t releasing the report in advance, online and in the post-offices/library so that people can have a chance to review it in advance. They way they’ve handled this, with-holding the report and only allowing a short time immediately prior to the live meetings, just undermines the buy-in. It makes it look like a fait accompli even if it isn’t. It’s not easy to make an informed opinion just on a short review and they never have enough time for questions in these sort of meetings. MoTransport needs to step it up IMHO.
It appears that the profile of the smaller ship traveller matches what Bermuda would prefer as tourists; on the other hand, the larger ships’ budget client dollars are known to be aggressively sought after with package deals and onboard amenities and seldom make it to our shores or in our pockets for that matter.
Changing the size of the channels seems like an investment geared towards making Bermuda accessible to larger numbers of budget clients who will continue to spend their money onboard.
I would hope that a comparative study is or has been performed to determine how we can make Bermuda as a destination more appealing to the upscale small-ship traveller looking for an exotic or otherwise enjoyable off-board experience.
If I had to spend $xxx dollars on a capital project with naturally risky returns, I’d rather spend it on something that I would be able to enjoy as well rather than literally investing in a bigger whole in the ground.
Suppose we still don’t get the big ships or small ships to come in? At least us residents (whether local, term-limited, or whatever other status) would be able to enjoy the investment.
At the end of the day, a destination with happy people is a preferrable destination.
It’s all bullshit.
The freeking QE II has come and gone. Aircraft Carriers in the Great Sound.
Someones looking out for a ‘consultants fee et al’.
Who gives a shit if it’s high end-low end cruisers.
Get the ships in or fill the freekin cut and we all can go back on another Deliverance…..
I freeking give up………………………..
I tender to agree Terry,
Even if a ship couldn’t dock in the harbour, there are destinations where tendering the passengers to the shore is the norm.
If the destination is worthwhile, the tendering shouldn’t be a problem for the majority of the passengers I don’t imagine.
In any case, my comments (before putting them to paper) were meant to be infavour of investing in Bermuda’s product, but perhaps that was lost in translation.
Khalid………………………..
You made my day.
And your correct with the product.
Get the product up to date, they will come.
Damn….gotta update my Pilots Licence………Cum hup dee Narrahs, hang ah laft, pick hup Vasten Bloo Cutt….go Soufff….detz rite……ann eye’l ewan take yoo two dee little Sahn….detz rite……………………..
So………. there aare small cruise ships out there – why am I not surprised. Bring them all in – remember the song – bringing in the sheaves….
all this time… EB – lying thru every hole in his body…. and cutting the throats of St. George business owners/employees/residents. Somebody put him on the stop list!
How about Bermuda just purchase a smaller ship, refit it with modern conveniences and have it sail to and from Bermuda. It could cater to the elite crowd and provide the cruiser with special rates and options to stay on land for future trips. These mega cesspools are about providing entertainment on the ship and milking the passenger out of all their money before the hit land. At least our own ship we can score at sea and on land.
I was going to post this idea also, so it was nice seeing someone else thinking this. Not only would it keep the money made in Bermuda, it would give some much needed jobs to Bermudians as well. Instead of investing a bunch of money on widening the cut investing in a floating ‘hotel’ seems like a smarter use of money but also better use of resources instead of potentially damaging the natural resources that attracts folks to Bermuda in the first place.
The Caymans tender people in every day since the ship cannot get close. It is considered quite normal in many places and Caymanians live with it just fine. So before you spend $70 (inflated to 150mill no doubt) to blow up several islands, buy a tender that is big enough to accommodate people and use it.
Be at the meetings people. Don;t let your Gover(n)ment spend our money on such a stupid idea.
He said there were 30 ships that could get into Hamilton… Can he point them out to Ewart Brown who said there wasn’t any left… Isn’t that the reason for the mega dock in Dockyard?
No. Ewart was punishing the merchants in Hamilton by pulling the ships. Platinum payback.
Society is killing the ecosystem anyway with all the pollution etc, and most islands that use to tender people 5-10 years ago are making way for the ships to come into the harbour because of the revenue it creates. I think we should open everything up to allow passage!
Furthermore we don’t live off our ecosystem like other islands do, we don’t farm shrimp, conch, lobsters, etc.
What benefit is it to the country as a whole if we don’t do it?????? The islands are slowly withering away with every storm we have, and fish, lobster pots killed marine life a long time ago!!!!!!
It would be stupid not to!!!!!!!!!!
The world is going bigger with everything, bulidings, vehicles, ships, machines, factories, planes etc, so if we don’t do it now we gonna be forced to do it later!!!!!!
WAKE UP BERMUDA, IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE IF WE WANT TO COMPETE ON THE WORLD STAGE OF TOURISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tenders sounds good but what happens when the cruise lines see people wanting to go on trips that go to other islands because they go in to dock? The cruise line now discontinues it’s service to Bermuda and goes where the people want to go!!!
The tender process shortens there visit as well! It takes more time to tender people to and from as oppose to them walking on and off the ship as they please, anytime of day or night!!!!!!
THINK ABOUT IT BERMUDA, IT’S TIME TO MAKE THAT CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Look at the Veendam, how many times this year has it by-passed St.George’s because the tender service couldn’t operate do to weather!!!!!!!!!
LETS BE REAL PEOPLE!!!!!
WE NEED TO REALIZE THAT BERMUDA IS STILL ANOTHER WORLD!!!!!!!!!!
It’s clean, friendly, Beautiful Throuhout, no poverty, no Mass begging on the streets, humble, and the list can go on and on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE STILL HAVE SOMETHING HERE, WE JUST NEED TO REALIZE IT!!!!!!!!!
The cruise lines are not telling there passengers don’t in certain parts, don’t shop here and there, Bermuda is still considered a safe place in comparision to other islands around the world.
WHY ARE WE SO AFRAID OF CHANGE??????
THE WORLD IS LEAVING US BEHIND, FAR BEHIND TOO!
What happened to the days when the cruise lines BUILT ships for Bermuda…Sea Venture, Horizon and Zenith to name a few.
Bermuda, Hamilton and St. George’s in particular, is a profitable, beautiful destination for the right ships.
As long as this government continues to look at widening the channels to allow the over-sized cattle wagons (sorry, ships), the cruise lines will not consider purpose building ships for our harbours and channels. Their profits are huge on the mega ships while we suffer trying to compete with these ships (which for many, the ship IS the destination and not Bermuda) for the passenger dollars.
Stop pandering to the cruise conglomerates – say NO to widening the channels – find a cruise line willing to invest in ships suitable for Bermuda without destroying our limited natural resorces.
We struggle to move cruise passengers around our island as it is with two mega ships in Dockyard. How can we cope if two more mega ships, one each in Hamilton and St. George’s, drop an additional 5-6,000 ashore. More buses on the road? More fast ferries? Our infrastructure can not handle it.
$150 million for the channels?
$150 million for additional infrastructure?
I think we have a billion or so of debt already.
I don’t want my great-great-great-great grandchildren to be still paying this off.
Get real.
Guess we’ve just figured out who Hey Bill is. Used to run a disco?
I say leave the channels as they are. Cruise ship passengers are bottom feeders of tourism. If we even had $150 mill to do the job, we should build a new hotel at Club Med and put a casino in it. That would bring the tourists. Course we dont have the money. So nothing can be done anyway.
NO not me!!! Now ya talking, Casinos will do it!!!!!!
Make gaming legal with a national lottery and it will be hotels, jobs, etc going around like crazy!!!!!!!
Casinos would get us out of debt for sure!!!!!!!!!
Maybe you should research the revenue created just from shipping and pilotage fees!
Too little too late by a bunch of self serving parasites – yes that is you PLP Government. Now that local retail has been effectively destroyed (the final straw being HSBC’s unneeded monstrosity on the former Trimingham’s site) you all of a sudden start to sing a different tune when with an election in sight you begin to wonder what happened to all those jobs…Brown and his cronies effectively destroyed the infrastructure with stupid revengeful vanity projects like the HSBC building (yes you too Phil), and now it’s time to reap what you have sown – JERKS.
LOL, and after we spend millions of dollars to bring in these large cruise ships – they still won’t come! what is there to do here?! after being on a cruise myself bermuda has nothing to offer in comparison to other destinations.
Thats the point, there is everything to do here that is not already everywhere else in the world!
BERMUDA IS STILL ANOTHER WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They already have everything to do at home thats why they want to go somewhere different, somewhere relaxing!
Not much to offer, but just got an award i see!!!!!!!!!!
WHATS THAT TO SAY FOR US??????????
Bring in the small luxury cruise lines like Silversea and Seabourn. The passengers will spend money on taxis, eating in good restaurants and quality goods— not like the masses on the huge ships who only buy a T shirt or fridge magnet, if that. Bermudians could also board here and go on a cruise on these classy small ships.