#BiggestUKcruiseship – Britannia, the largest cruiseship built for the UK market and that for P&O Cruises arrived in 'reverse' to Dublin Port having cancelled a scheduled anchorage call due today off Dun Laoghaire Harbour, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The call to Dublin Port is set against the background to a succession of scheduled calls this season by cruise operators deciding against calling to Dun Laoghaire. According to the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company this remains to be the rationale, and the view of DLHC is that the new planned €18m cruise-berth facility (see more below) would result in cruise ships being able to dock and this is more preferable than tendering.
The massive Britannia of 147,730 tonnes had sailed overnight from Liverpool. She has a capacity for 3,600 passengers who are visiting the capital as part of a maiden British Isles Cruise.
The introduction of the £500m Britannia which entered service in March brings a 'modern classic' aimed at a wider profile that otherwise may have not chosen a cruise with P&O. The flagship boasts 13 restaurants and likewise same number of bars. She sports a new livery scheme of a stylised Union Jack on the bow and blue funnels replacing the traditional yellow on a pair of funnels more akin to the 'liner' era.
Last week the Dublin Port Company was granted planning permission by An Bord Pleanála for the €230m Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR) Project. The historic large scale port infrastructure will, among its goals allow some of the world's largest cruise ships to dock conventionally.
Currently, cruiseships such as Britannia which has a length of 330m cannot be turned within the port. Instead the Italian newbuild turned around in Dublin Bay with a pair of tugs in assistance and then entered 'astern' and led to berth 33 in Alexandra Basin.
Britannia's near sister Royal Princess and that of the largest and longest ever cruiseship in length to dock in Dublin Port the 333m MSC Splendida have all previously called in 'reverse' given their dimensions. On all occasions this has involved mooring alongside the west basin's berth 33.
The ABR Project will resolve this unorthodox berthing procedure by reducing the length of the North Quay Wall Extension. This will allow considerably larger ships to routinely call to Dublin, by turning within Alexandra Basin and also berth as far upriver at the East Link Bridge.
On the site of the North Wall Extension is also where the ABR's dedicated €30m cruise terminal is designed to cater for giant cruiseships up to the capacity of Royal Caribbean Internationals' 'Oasis' class which are a whopping 225,000 tonnes. This class it should be noted range in tonnage and length terms.
The increase in Dublin Port's ability to handle these cruise behemoths will also include the bread and butter calls of also much larger cargoships. In order to facilitate all this larger tonnage capacity an extensive dredging programme is to deepen and lengthen elsewhere in the port's 3kms west basin quays out of a of the port total of 7kms of berths.
The development will also require deepening the port to provide an entrance channel with a depth of at least 10m.
Across the bay the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company's proposed €18m cruise-berth jetty is designed for cruiseships to the size of RCI's 'Freedom' class of 154,000 tonnes on a length of 340m. Afloat understands that there is scope for slightly longer cruiseships at the proposed jetty.
As previously reported on Alfoat.ie a formal planning application has been lodged with An Bord Planeala since early July (noting a public consultation period of 7 weeks for observations / submissions expires on 27th August).
The issue of cruise ship length does not apply to Dun Laoghaire Harbour as cruiseships would turn around off the port entrance and then berth 'reverse' alongside to the jetty. Likewise of Dublin Port, dredging would be required as only small ships can currently dock, among them the 9,000 tonnes Star Legend which departed yesterday.
