Tom's Cruise Blog

Update 30 May: Unfortunately, just hours after being centre stage in Liverpool, Ocean Countess suffered an electrical failure which resulted in a total loss of power for some three hours during the night. Power was restored, but she diverted to Holyhead, Anglesey, for checks today. I understand that the 700 or so passengers have been advised of a revised itinerary.

The rather blurry image on the left is Ocean Countess, moored at the Liverpool Cruise Terminal, preparing to start her first cruise from Liverpool of 2012. The significance is that this is the first cruise to start from the new cruise terminal. It follows last weeks decision by the DfT to allow Liver pool to use the cruise terminals for turnarounds instead of just day visits, in return for a repayment of £8.8m or thereabouts of public money that Liverpool received to fund the construction of the landing stage. (I ought to say that I grabbed the image from the ‘WirralCam’ webcam, and it remains their copyright.)

Commentators in other parts of the country are arguing that Liverpool is acting prematurely. Even though they’re received permission from the UK government that isn’t enough, is their view: there was a lot of money received from the EU and that ought to be repaid as well. Daniel Hannan, Conservative Euro MP for Hampshire has been quoted (here) as saying that if Liverpool go ahead with its first turnaround (i.e. the one that’s happening today…) without a Fair Competition ruling from the EU “it will be breaking the law”. And Southampton’s Labour MP John Denham said (in his WordPress blog) “I think Liverpool may be jumping the gun starting new sailings so quickly and taking EU approval for granted. It’s important that the laws on fair competition are upheld“.

I’ve also read a report that MEPs from the south-east and north of England have set up a meeting with the EU’s competition commissioner.

This one is going to rumble on….

…. and it’s £8.8m if repaid as a lump sum, or £12.6m is phased over 15 years. Here’s a link to the DfT minister’s statement.

Southampton aren’t happy – here’s a link to a BBC News page giving reactions from various people there.

There is a suggestion in that latter page that it’s still not 100% settled however – Southampton MP John Denham is quoted as saying “It’s now down to the European Union to ensure that state aid rules are fairly applied.” So this one could run and run. However in the meantime it looks as if cruises will be starting and finishing in Liverpool rather than Bootle.

It will be interesting to see if Liverpool are able to interest many lines in shifting some cruises to Liverpool from other places. Fred Olsen ran cruises on their old Black Prince from Liverpool (Langton Dock) until that ship was sold, and it was then realised that the ships they wanted to use instead were too big to navigate the entrance to that dock easily. The big prize however would be Cunard, who have made encouraging noises: but translating those to actual turnaround cruises in Liverpool would be a big step, and a real achievement by the port of Liverpool.

I’ve got quite interested in this topic, so here’s an update on where everything currently stands (as far as I’m aware.)

The background is that Liverpool have built a new cruise terminal (but see below!) direct on the Mersey at Prince’s Dock close to the ‘Three Graces‘ buildings and quite near to the Pier Head. This was financed with public money (UK & EU) and among the conditions stuck onto receipt of that money was that it should only be used for day visits, not cruise turnrounds.  However Liverpool city council (which arranged for the terminal to be built) has been campaigning for that restriction to be lifted, and had offered to repay £5m-odd of the nearly £20m of public grants they’ve received. Initially the government was in agreement with that suggestion, but other ports (e.g. Southampton) objected: they’d paid for their terminals without recourse to public money and they didn’t feel that repaying just £5m was sufficient. The government went out to consultation on the amount to be repaid, but haven’t yet announced the outcome. The latest delay was because of the local elections – by convention, governments don’t make announcements that affect localities during a local election campaign. However, the local election was over two weeks ago and as of today, the minister responsible still hasn’t made an announcement. Continue Reading »