Return of passenger cruise ships creates contracts on the quayside

The prospect of better times ahead for the cruise ship industry following the pandemic is encouraging some significant investment in new facilities to accommodate passengers as they embark on holidays afloat. Proposals for some major new cruise terminals are creating opportunities for construction contracts at larger ports around the country.

Today, significant new cruise terminal schemes are at the pre-tender stage in Portsmouth and Hull. Meanwhile wider regeneration schemes, notably in Barrow in Furness, Liverpool and Lothian in Scotland also include new cruise terminals.

In one of the first Levelling Up projects to get underway, work has started in recent weeks on a £5 million project to transform and extend the cruise terminal at Portsmouth International Port in the city’s Wharf Road. A civils contractor has been appointed and work is set to run for 12 months (Project ID: 22194731).

Elsewhere in the city, a contract is due to be let for the new £10 million Portsmouth Cruise Terminal to be sited within the harbour. The project will involve a new steel structure with two floors and cover around 2,000 sq m and will aim to cater for around 1,000 cruise passengers. Work on the scheme is set to start late this year and run for 12 months (Project ID: 19367764).

Landmark terminal

Further along the south coast in Southampton, work on the landmark £55 million Cruise Terminal T5 development was completed for client ABP at the end of last year. Brymor Contractors was the civils contractor on the architecturally striking scheme where work ran for 18 months (Project ID: 19276068).

The proposed £73 million Cruise Hull Yorkshire terminal could help attract 30,000 visitors a year to the city. As well as a new cruise ship terminal, the 43-month project would involve a shore-side electricity station to cut carbon and associated infrastructure works and access roads (Project ID: 19030666).

Earlier this year Royal HaskoningDHV was appointed to provide planning consultancy support for the project and Hull City Council had sought to appoint ABP as a preferred partner to operate the new terminal. More recently, the city’s newly Liberal Democrat city council has said it is ‘not against’ the idea of a cruise terminal for Hull but is reviewing the proposed location of the scheme.

Waterfront redevelopment

On the Cumbrian coast, a new cruise ship terminal forms part of a major £200 million Waterfront redevelopment at Barrow in Furness, where work started in 2019 and is set to continue in stages until 2034. The town is the largest port on the north west coast between Liverpool and Scotland and provides good access to the Lake District for cruise passengers (Project ID: 04372963).

Meanwhile in Liverpool, work on the new £70 million Princes Jetty cruise liner terminal has been put on hold due to Covid. Key consultants have been appointed and McLaughlin & Harvey is the design & build contractor on the project - which involves 2,800 sq m of new space – but the timing of a re-start is unknown, and it is understood the scheme will not be ready until 2023 (Project ID: 13329614).

Cruise terminals can also provide a spur to wider development. At the new £19.2 million Greenock cruise ship visitor centre near Glasgow, an adjacent site has been identified for a £30 million development for employment use through the Inverclyde Council Local Development Plan. Work on a scheme could start next year (Project ID: 21242673).

Elsewhere in Scotland, a feasibility study has been carried out on proposals for a £110 million Cockenzie Cruise Ship Terminal on the site of a former power station at Prestopans in Lothian close to Edinburgh, which could handle up to 200 cruise liners a year. Plans for the 120 acre site also include an eco village, green-themed visitor centre and a retail and business park (Project ID: 15124411).