New £50M Cruise Terminal Proposed for Liverpool.

With the Ex UK cruise market continuing to grow, plans are in the pipeline to develop and expand one of the UK’s existing cruise ports into an ‘International Standard’ operation.

Liverpool city council has submitted a planning application for a new £50 million cruise terminal on the river Mersey. The council is looking to create a new, permanent facility which would enable the city to welcome the world’s biggest cruise ships. The application includes the controlled removal of Princes Jetty and the construction of a new terminal set within a statement building, based on a new suspended deck structure in the river.

In 2017 Liverpool welcomed more than 60 vessels, with 120,000 passengers and crew, but the council wants to capitalise on the cruise boom by creating a state of the art passenger and baggage facility, complete with passport control, lounge, café, toilets, taxi rank and vehicle pick up point. The current terminal generates more than £7m a year to the city’s economy.

The application is expected to be heard by the council’s Planning Committee in January 2018. If approved, site preparation at Princes Dock, in Liverpool Waters, is expected to start in Spring 2018.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “A new cruise facility is one of the city’s most important regeneration projects of this decade and is vital to growing Liverpool’s tourism economy,  we want to provide the next generation of super liners and their passengers a world class welcome with a five star experience. A new cruise facility will also be a huge boost to our plans to regenerate the North Liverpool docklands and create thousands of new jobs which is why we’re putting together the best team of experts to ensure we build this facility to the very highest standards.”

What do you think of the proposal? Regeneration, employment creation, a huge boost to the local economy, sounds like a great idea. Also if the worlds biggest cruise ships will be able to dock there it should take some of the strain away from Southampton and provide an option for many cruisers in the north of the country who find Southampton simply too far away.

Let me know your thoughts.

Bye for now.