The Ministry of Tourism and Transport’s Transportation Consultant, Larry Jacobs, responds to Stuart Hayward’s article regarding the funding of studies relating to bringing larger cruise ships to Bermuda. Mr. Hayward’s article originally appeared in these pages on January 13.
Let me share with you some facts about the cruise industry — how it impacts Bermuda’s tourism product and economy and how we are approaching the environmental aspects of our cruise ports master.
The cruise market
The cruise market in North America is dominated by seven major cruise lines, Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International. Combined, these cruise lines have over 90 per cent of the North America market in terms of capacity. The average length of cruise ships built by these cruise lines within the last five years is over 900ft and over 2500 passenger capacity. By definition, ships that are less than 975ft in length and 108ft wide are called ‘panamax’ ships because they can transit the Panama Canal.
Ships larger than this cannot transit the Canal and are called ‘post-panamax’ or ‘mega-ships’. These larger cruise ships cannot transit Town Cut in St. George’s or Two Rocks Passage in Hamilton Harbour without modifications to those channels and ports.
Contrast this with the cruise ships that currently sail to Bermuda and dock in St. George’s and Hamilton. All are less than 700ft in length and less than 100ft in width. More importantly, all are reaching the end of their useful age and the only reason the cruise lines are keeping them is to serve the summer Bermuda market. The Ministry has been told these cruise ships will be sold or transferred within the next three to four years. A look at the new ship orders reveals that there are few ships on order that can dock at either St. George’s or Hamilton given current constraints.
Some have said that Bermuda should seek to have the smaller luxury-brand cruise lines comes to Bermuda. These lines include Crystal Cruises, Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, Windstar, Seabourn and Silverseas. Between them they have less than 20 cruise ships and few additional on order. In almost all cases, these ships sail on world-wide itineraries that may include one or two stops per year in Bermuda.
Clearly, the current trend is towards larger cruise ships and we have concluded that unless Bermuda addresses this reality we face a situation where both Hamilton and St. George’s will not be able to dock the modern cruise ships.
We’ve been studying!
In order to address the reality that cruise ships may not enter St. George’s or Hamilton in the future, the Ministry of Tourism and Transport has embarked on Ports Study. The Study has a number of elements. The firm of Bermello, Ajamil & Partners has been consulted by Government to do the following:
Preliminary design and development costs for a second cruise pier at Dockyard;
A transportation centre at Dockyard for bus, ferry, taxi and watersports tour operations;
Land-side infrastructure requirements in support of the second cruise pier;
Preliminary design and costs for docking panamax-class cruise ships at Penno’s Wharf in St. George’s;
Swell condition study at Town Cut in St. George’s;
Costs for widening Town Cut and other improvements in St. George’s.
Government is also conducting other studies:
Computer simulations of panamax-class cruise ships to assess issues for them to dock in Hamilton Harbour, including the impact on Two Rocks Passage;
Computer simulations of panamax-class cruise ships to assess issues for them to enter St. George’s, including required modifications at Penno’s Wharf and Ordnance Island and Town Cut;
Examining options if modifications to Town Cut and Hamilton channels are prohibitively expensive or have significant negative environmental impact.
The Bermuda National Trust is also conducting an environmental assessment of the larger cruise ships on Bermuda. The Ministry was made aware of this study before it was announced and both supports it and will participate in it.
Our goal is to complete this phase of the Ports Study by this summer. At that time, we will be in a better position to determine our recommendations and what additional environmental impact studies will be required moving forward.
In addition to the above technical studies, the Minister has established a Waterfront Task Force to examine the potential for redevelopment of all three ports. The Minister has made it clear that waterfront plans at all three ports takes precedent over the docking of the larger cruise ships.
It is important to note that Government has not made any decisions regarding modifying Town Cut in St. George’s or Two Rocks Passage in Hamilton Harbour to accommodate the larger cruise ships. We will complete the current phase of the Ports Study before making any further decisions. Of particular concern to us is the impact of modifying our channels and ports on Bermuda’s environment, and these impacts will be assessed accordingly.
Representatives conducting the Ports Study have received considerable input from stakeholders. These groups have included the three cruise ports (Corporation of St. George’s, Corporation of Hamilton and the West End Development Corporation), the Marine Resources Board, the Ports Authority, numerous Government departments, the Chamber of Commerce and the cruise lines. We have also met with the National Trust.
The facts
Mr. Hayward stated that cruise lines do not promote the ports. In fact, contract cruise ships sailing to Bermuda are required to have literature on-board that promotes Bermuda and they cannot have shops or casinos open while in port.
Mr. Hayward offered statistics about the waste generated by cruise ships. It might be surprising to some that the larger cruise ships potentially have less negative impact on this aspect of the environment. The two largest cruise ships that sailed to Bermuda on a regular basis in 2005 were the Voyager of the Seas and the Grandeur of the Seas. Neither ship required water and neither required hooking into our sewer lines. Nor were they allowed to deposit trash while in Bermuda. Due to their large size, the newer cruise ships have sophisticated on-board waste management facilities, something the older and smaller cruise ships may lack.
The cruise ship product contributes over $60 million annually to Bermuda’s economy. Just ask water and land tour operators, bus and ferry workers, and retailers how important cruise ships are to their livelihood — it’s usually a significant portion of their business. The decisions we make must take into account the impact on their livelihood as well as the physical and man made environment.
In summary, Bermuda faces a crossroads in relation to its cruise product. We have adopted an approach that is both systematic and inclusive of stakeholder involvement. The issues are complex and solutions will not be simple.
Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008
Comment by:
Laurie Behney
We have been cruising to Bermuda yearly since 1996 and are profoundly dissapointed to find that the 2008 season only offers one week-long cruise through RCL and that is the end. Since the passengers spend two full days traveling each way, the 5 day cruises hardly give any land time. I was hopeful that a slip could be built similar to the one at the Dockyard where Grenadier Ln meets the ocean. It is a sparcely populated area,so not the problem of blocked views. Busses could extend some runs and this should be less expensive than enlarging Town Cut. The port charges in Bermuda are higher than any in the Caribbean, so money is made just having the ships there.
Posted: Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Comment by:
Diane Duguid
As a 17 time visitor to Bermuda, I find it much cheaper to come by ship, than stay there anymore. We have eaten at restaurants off the ship, and found them to be terrribly expensive. So to come to Bermuda for a weeks visit, would be better done by ship. At least I can sleep on the ship, and return to eat on the ship. I love Bermuda, and I am coming down again in October, but by ship. Is it a nuisance to dock out at the dockyards, yes, but I can take the ferry over to Hamilton, although it would be easier to just go back on the ship in town, but thats because the ships are too big to come into Hamilton now. Good Luck Bermuda, I hope you make the right choice, I love coming there.
Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006
Comment by:
Wesley Johnston
The listed arguements/opinions seem to have different ideas about tourism development in Bermuda, and I am sure these same issues apply to many of the other destinations visited around the world. Having visited Bermuda before I often wonder what a view from Hamilton Harbour would look like without an apartment building in front of it. Still, all of the views need to be represented and the divisions that differing opinions can cause is never-ending (a damaging social impact). It is not only Bermuda that is at this 'cross-roads', so too is the rest of the 'toured' world and the tourists that make the descision whether to board a boat or plane to escape their everyday lives on vacation. Bermuda is one of those places on this Earth that deserves to be treated with care, as do the people that live there.
Posted: Thursday, February 16, 2006
Comment by:
Charles Wetherby
Mr Pitcher's note argues that hotel-based guests are better than ship-based guests for the island. Regrettably that is not a valid comparison. Discouraging passengers from coming on cruise ships will not make them come to hotels - they will merely take the same cruise ships to some other more welcoming destination.
Subsituting passengers from 'upmarket' cruise ships is unlikely to help - they probably spend less per capita than do 'midmarket' passengers. The hottest selling items in QE2's shops are trinkets, not gold watches. In any case 'upscale' passengers are no more likely than regular passengers to eat ashore - they have an even nicer ship to return to than have the 'midmarket' passengers!
It would seem that the island's hotel problems have little to do with the cruise industry - the main difficulty would appear to be a cost base which is so high as to discourage investment.
Posted: Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Comment by:
Bill Akin
Everyone has very good points. I would like to add one bit. "My" local pub when a guest in St. George has a very good rise of custom not from the passengers on the ships instead it is from the crew on a few hours shore leave. Very interesting people to talk with.
Posted: Saturday, February 11, 2006
Comment by:
paul elsen
Clearly the age seems to favor American vacationers taking their vacations aboard cruiseships, and using exotic locales merely as backdrops, but what a pity that more travellers just don't hop on planes (or ships) to get to their destination, and then spend their time and money in the local hotels, and eat in the local restaurants. I might feel different about overland trips, where you get to see all the country before you get to where you're going, but at sea, the ship becomes the thing, and I feel that's a waste.
Posted: Friday, February 10, 2006
Comment by:
Denis Pitcher
Despite the excellent article by Mr. Jacobs, I feel it is a bit one sided. I would move to suggest that cruise ships have a negative impact on our industry in many respects given my own personal experience working in the tourism industry. One of our major difficulties with Cruise Ships, especially maga cruise ships, is that they degrade the tourism product of our island.
Cruise ships introduce a level of competition that quite negatively impacts our hotel industry. As yourself why we have no new hotels and why most are suffering? Individuals who travel to our island and pay $500+ a night expect a level of service that you simply don't get anymore and a Bermuda vacation is horrendously overpriced because you don't get what you pay for.
What happens is that these individuals are no longer catered to in favor of the cruise ships whenever they are in port. All the taxi's go there and circle around them which makes it quite a bit harder for our hotel guests to get decent service.
Beyond this, our local activities and other attractions all cater to and give special concessions to the cruise ships who's passengers end up getting preference over those hotel guests who spend more.
The primary difficulty with cruise ships is that the passengers are catered to quite significantly while most is included. They don't eat in our restaurants, nor visit our theatres, nor our bars and clubs as all of these services are available on the ship. On top of this they flood our beaches with more and more numbers and seemingly rape our island of it's resources.
The arguements of "shops" and "casinos" are pointless because if you havn't noticed - trimminghams and smiths are gone and we don't have any casinos.
Very Unfortunately, our tourism ministry has taken a stance of volume over dollars in regards to attracting visitors as visitor numbers are the easiest to not only achieve but also project as growth in tourism despite actual benefits at the sacrafice of our industry.
In turn they spin a negative image on the progress of the hotels and blame them for their own falling numbers when we should instead be looking at the falling $$$'s being spent on our island.
We should take a moment to review our industry as a whole. Lets remember that cruise ships don't employ Bermudians, hotel's do. Cruise ship passengers may pay a $50 head tax, but when their meals and entertainment are included, what incentive is there to actually spend much money on our island? Compare this to a hotel visitor who's every dollar spent in some way contributes to the support nature Bermudians provide. They eat in Bermudian restaurants, they visit Bermudian clubs, they share the same Bermudian experiences and they're more likely to spend alot more money overall when their vacation costs $3-5k in comparison to the $1k cruise ship passengers pay for all inclusive.
If anything, I think we're better off getting the smaller lines in, catering to the luxury and prestigeous visitors and getting more bang for our buck. Otherwise, we might as well just keep complaining as our island is flooded with more and more people that are better served in bulk for cheap attending places like cancun, cuba and other caribbean destinations that specialize in it.
I for one believe less is more - we should learn to see the value in it.
Posted: Thursday, February 09, 2006
Comment by:
Jaap van Dorp
As former officer for Holland America line and currently as tourist, I would have no objections to the Dockyard proposal, to prevent the overload on traffic however associated with these mega ships the people in Bermuda should consider restoring the Bermuda railway as a light rail line, they could handle the 3000 passegers on post Panamax ships without due hardship on local roads and traqnsit systems.
Todays light rail cars can habdle up to 160 people on a two car train with very low energy use and very little polution.
Posted: Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Comment by:
Roger Sherratt
An excellent article by Larry Jacobs who provides us with a clear, succinct summary of the current situation regarding our cruise ship industry and the problems we have to face if Bermuda wants to remain in the cruise ship business which is so valuable to local retailers, tour operators, taxi drivers etc.
It sounds as though Government has adopted an emminently practical, sensible approach to studying ALL of the issues, and consulting with ALL of the stakeholders before deciding on a long term plan for this vital part of our ever diminishing tourist industry; diminishing in every regard except for cruise ship arrivals. They remain a world wide phenomenon with Bermuda one of the prime destinations.
Bermuda needs to work on enhancing our tourist industry - not ignoring it. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater!
