Deepwater for Cruise Ships

[woody2]

 

 

I thought at first, who the heck thought of this completely idiotic idea, until I did some digging. Orkney is just a small example. Look at Madeira. Before you say warm and sunny, their cruise season is their winter. However, now spreading into their summer. Like most islands, if you are there for a day, you can either pay a fortune for a tour, or walk about town and have a few pints and lunch. Over the past 20 years, Madeira has grown from being a very minor tourist island to being quite a major one. The Azores are just starting on this transformation. Watch this space. Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin are all jumping on the cruise game. We would be completely. Stupid not to at least look at it!

 

 

Orkney got £4 million into the local economy from cruise passengers

 

With a deepwater ship berth costing in the hundreds of millions I cannot see any way of repaying the cost before the thing wears out

 

To give you an example of a cheaper tourism investment look at Majorca. They had funds available and were considering building yet another marina, instead they invested in making the islands roads cycle friendly by widening some of the main routes and putting a 1.5 meter wide cycleway on one side

The result was a massive uptake in cycle holidays in the spring & autumn when the weather was cool enough

I was there last April and they had 25,000 cyclists a week going through the place, using hotels, cafes, bike hire shops, the airlines & ferries and spending considerably more than a tea & scone day tripper

 

A huge and ongoing return for a modest investment

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-30794701

 

Put a presentation together and invite Tynwald members get an expert in from Majorca and they'll lap it up.

 

apart from cyclists never spend money hence why the cycle week stopped

[Lxxx]

I heard a rumour that a family member of a prominent minister is the brains behind this. It's not what you know it's who you know.

[slinkydevil]

I heard a rumour that a family member of a prominent minister is the brains behind this. It's not what you know it's who you know.

 

Skelly's mum? I knew it!

[Tarne]

I absolutely pissed myself at that Slinky, well done

[thebees]

I now think this is a great idea! In the grand scheme of things £50million is not a lot of money (just twice the amount were going to spend on the prom, I'm reliably informed).

 

We need this. If I was the government I'd be biting their hands off. Think of the knock on effect, jobs for tour guides, more train passengers, cafe customers and maybe you'd even see people in town!!! These boats carry 3000 people, I've just had my head turned, it's a grand idea - get it on

Edited January 21, 2017 by thebees

[woody2]

bit early for coke

[Kopek]

£50,000,000 plus interest/leaseback cost, plus maintenance plus staffing and over 30 years, repairs costing another 20million = £100,000,000.!!!

 

Of this years visits cruise passenger numbers only 4 are above 600, the rest are a few hundred and are north of England types eho have moved on from Coach Tours!

[cheesypeas]

£50,000,000 plus interest/leaseback cost, plus maintenance plus staffing and over 30 years, repairs costing another 20million = £100,000,000.!!!

 

Of this years visits cruise passenger numbers only 4 are above 600, the rest are a few hundred and are north of England types eho have moved on from Coach Tours!

Did you read the whole thread?

[Kopek]

Yes but I'm being realistic.

[2bees]

bit early for coke

Ha bad ass bee lives on but to be brutally honest, I've never been a coke fan It's very sweet that you think I'm bad nan but I don't even smoke any more babes x lol

[P.K.]

So let's look at the competition:

 

Oslo, Bergen, Rejkyavic, Dublin, Venice, Barca, Malta, Gib, Split, Dubrovnik, Monte Carlo, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Madeira etc etc etc.

 

And then you arrive in Douglas....

 

The Outlaws used to do a lot of cruising. They liked the way all they had to do was waddle on to the coach or whatever and then be whisked off for some (extremely) gentle sightseeing.

 

I have been on one cruise which was around the Greek Islands. I have to say the food and service were absolutely top notch.

 

So pray tell, what would make the IOM a destination of choice...?

[cheeky boy]

Very few of us are qualified to comment on the technical aspects of the proposal. I do however agree that on the face of it, a floating pontoon on the seaward side of the breakwater seems a bit daft, it's called a breakwater for a reason, so the proposal calling it 'Alexander Pier' would appear to be an attempt to mislead or dupe people that it is safe!

 

There were very few of us qualified to comment on the technical aspects of the first linkspan, this was effectively a steel bridge with a float on the end. It was installed in 1977 before the breakwater extension and many of us who knew the harbour questioned how it would stand up to the swells produced by an easterly gale

Reassurances were given that it had been designed by engineers to cope with swell of up to 1.5 meters. We pointed out that swells of 5 meters were not uncommon. We were told not to worry.

The linkspan opened in August facilitating our first ro-ro vessel operated by Manxline

I was living above the harbour and in September of that year with the first of the easterlies blowing hard I woke to the massive sound of tearing and crashing metal.

Dawn broke to reveal the linkspan wrenched from its hinges and lay half submerged across the middle of the harbour

 

When the seacat was first brought here on a promotional visit, many of us locals went on it for a 1 hr jolly. At the end of the trip some bloke in a suit with a flipchart gave us a talk extolling the virtues of the fastcraft. We were quite impressed, the first question from the audience was " what are you going to replace it with in the winter ?"

Suity bloke then tell the audience that they have looked at the weather patterns for the Irish sea and that there will be only one or two days a year when this boat can't operate

Cue hoots of derision from the crowd and a very puzzled and offended suity bloke packs up his chart and buggers off

Some 18 months later said boat is charging toward the bar lightship in a blow when it ploughs into a wall of water and wrenches the bow visor off it's mountings. Boat limps back to Liverpool to be replaced with the Lady of Man, a small sideloader built to withstand the Irish Sea

 

You don't always need to be an expert to see when something isn't going to work, local knowledge is worth a lot

 

Ignoring all that for a moment, the whole point of this absurd project is an exercise in parting the Manx government from it's money. The practicalities will of building it and the non-existent business case will be glossed over until the various parties involved have been paid millions in consulting fees.

They will then conclude that it's a non-starter and bugger off to spend the money on a new car and a house extension

Edited January 22, 2017 by cheeky boy

[cheeky boy]

 

 

 

I thought at first, who the heck thought of this completely idiotic idea, until I did some digging. Orkney is just a small example. Look at Madeira. Before you say warm and sunny, their cruise season is their winter. However, now spreading into their summer. Like most islands, if you are there for a day, you can either pay a fortune for a tour, or walk about town and have a few pints and lunch. Over the past 20 years, Madeira has grown from being a very minor tourist island to being quite a major one. The Azores are just starting on this transformation. Watch this space. Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin are all jumping on the cruise game. We would be completely. Stupid not to at least look at it!

 

 

Orkney got £4 million into the local economy from cruise passengers

 

With a deepwater ship berth costing in the hundreds of millions I cannot see any way of repaying the cost before the thing wears out

 

To give you an example of a cheaper tourism investment look at Majorca. They had funds available and were considering building yet another marina, instead they invested in making the islands roads cycle friendly by widening some of the main routes and putting a 1.5 meter wide cycleway on one side

The result was a massive uptake in cycle holidays in the spring & autumn when the weather was cool enough

I was there last April and they had 25,000 cyclists a week going through the place, using hotels, cafes, bike hire shops, the airlines & ferries and spending considerably more than a tea & scone day tripper

 

A huge and ongoing return for a modest investment

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-30794701

 

Put a presentation together and invite Tynwald members get an expert in from Majorca and they'll lap it up.

 

apart from cyclists never spend money hence why the cycle week stopped

 

Easy Jet fare150.00 Euro

Hotel rate 60.00 Euro per night

Bike hire 19.00 Euro per day

Food, lunch 12 euro, Dinner 22 Euro per day

T shirts, bike clothing etc another 50 Euro

 

It is not 1965 any more

[homarus]

Yup!

 

Force 10's are not uncommon in winter , in some respects I want to see this thing built because I'll be sat there on Douglas head with my flask and sarnies watching when the South Easterly 10 and big tides combine ,it's going to be epic!

Edited January 22, 2017 by homarus

[homarus]

All joking aside a 50 million minimum gamble for an estimated 60 quid per head return spend is the last thing the IOM needs at this moment in time .If we must gamble let's not stick our necks into the blade quite so quickly boys eh?

 

So the question now becomes what do we want to achieve and how to do it without bankrupting the IOM?

 

Subsidy has to be the answer !! If we take into account that Manx Farm owners are paid in the region of 7mill per year (Please correct if wrong !) for Countryside care , gov is well overstaffed , and we have various other IOM loss making ventures that will never turn a profit under current conditions ,it's clear the Gov is happy to subsidise .

 

So, here's my take (once again!) if the GOV is happy to subsidise , ""SUBSIDISE THE CARRIERS"" but only over and above numbers which they already bring to the Island !!

 

Let's say we take a small gamble with 7 mill figure available per year and if we can't give it away it stays in the pot!!

Subsidy obviously does not apply for TT Period!

 

IOM SP foot passengers @ 40 pounds per head return - A full subsidy could potentially see an extra 175,000 passengers per year visiting the IOM.

SP 1 vehicle 5.5m @ 250? per vehicle return - A full subsidy could potentially see an extra 28,000 vehicles per year visiting the IOM.

Low cost Air fares based on Easyjet @ 100 per head return - A full subsidy could potentially see an extra 70,000 people per year visiting the IOM .

 

 

All these carriers are already here and in operation , and do not require millions spent on consultants and experts!!

 

ETA.

 

To put the numbers in context IOM Govs own figures show that in 2015 there were 134,610 period visitors staying in paid accommodation and 2879 day trippers visiting the Island and likely half came for the TT.

Edited January 22, 2017 by homarus