Originally Posted by
naked lilac
Thanks Waterways.. very informative (as usual).. thanks.. It is a pity something can't be done for the many tourist that would come.. Even Venezia , Italy.. has many passanger cruise liners in the port ..and have made it very accessable to all who want to view their fine City...Seems only appropriate..Liverpool could do better... Interesting.. ta
As a port of call, Liverpool has limited attraction, however they do come. The business of starting and ending cruises in the port is what is needed, as people all over the north of England, the Midlands, Wales and Scotland will descend on the city to take the cruises. However extensive passenger processing facilities are needed. If a ship operates from a port on a regular basis, there is also spin off business of revamping a ship. Canadian Pacific ships would enter the docks and 1000s of people would descend on the ship, to paint, repair cabins, overall engines, get electrics right, etc.
The tallest, widest and longest passenger ship in the world is the Queen Mary 2 (not the largest in tonnage, but there are a few differing ways of calculating this). Liverpool docks are deep enough for the QM2, but the lock gates are not wide enough. The gates were sized for the likes of the Lusitania and Titanic.
For nearly 40 years the port has needed at least one set of very wide river locks. If they are built, and there are no plans to, post-Panamax container ships (14,000 containers as opposed to 8,000) can enter the enclosed dock system and the QM2 as well. Also the new navy aircraft carriers which will be not short in size of the USS Enterprise, could enter and use the dry dock facilities too - so the government may pay towards widening the locks with some luck.
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Post-panamax ships will berth in the tidal river and rest on the riverbed at low tide. What is needed is dry docks ship repair facilities for them, then the port is more attractive because if they have a structural problem it can be repaired quickly and in a regular port of call.
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