Posted on October 30, 2017
By Mary Bond, Seatrade Cruise News
The finish line is in sight for construction work to be completed on South Quay, the first phase of Poole Harbour Commissioner’s (PHC) masterplan.
To be operational from January 2018, the £10m expansion at the UK south coast port will draw a close to the seven year project.
South Quay will provide longer and deeper facilities to enable the port to continue to compete across a much wider range of shipping and marine activities, including cruise.
Discussions are underway with a number of interested cruise lines noted PHC, while Cruise & Maritime Voyages has already announced South Quay as a new cruise port for itineraries in its summer and autumn 2018 programme.
Construction of the new quay required 1,700 tons of steel piles, all of which was delivered by sea. In addition, 150,000cu mtr of sand material has been used during development with reclamation fill taken directly from the port’s maintenance dredging scheme.
Once finished, the 200mtr long x 40mtr wide deep water quay will be over 9mtr in depth and able to provide accommodation for vessels up to 200mtr in length.
The new facilities will be able to receive ships of up to 1,000 passengers – with 25 cruise calls expected in 2018.
Jim Stewart, PHC’s chief executive said: ‘This expansion is essential to competing on a grander shipping scale and opens the doors to a greater variety of customers coming to Poole Harbour in the future. Response has been very positive so far. We are confident Poole will become a key port for cruise in the coming years.’
Source: Seatrade Cruise News
