2010 drop in liner visits a ‘temporary setback’, says Cork Port boss

Cork cruise line business is set to fall in what Port of Cork bosses describe as a “temporary setback”.

Port of Cork boss Brendan Keating is part of a team in the US on a major sales drive for cruise business, and he said calls by cruise liners will drop between eight and 14% in 2010.

Mr Keating said this drop should be viewed in terms of the current record highs for the port this year.

“We have enjoyed all-time record calls of 57 this year and, next unfortunately, that looks like falling to anything between 50 and 53 calls.

“It is something which is reflected on a worldwide basis and Cork is by far not the worst affected,” he said.

Mr Keating predicted however that the business will grow again in 2011 and calls to Cork and its liner point of Cobh will again grow.

“The signs are very encouraging in the US market, and increasingly Europe is looking better, with strong indications here also of an economic recovery having a positive impact on business for 2011,” he said.

Mr Keating, accompanied by his marketing director Captain Michael McCarthy, visited liner bosses in a number of US cities including, Miami, Los Angeles and Seattle to push the Cork case and were very happy with the positive response of existing users to the port and the tourism options available in the immediate area for their clients.

The liner business is a huge business generator for the greater Cork area.

Cobh reaps in multi-million spending, the city received huge visitor numbers and tourist sites in the city and county and along with Waterford and Kerry are visited by the tens of thousand of passengers and crew that the liners carry.

The extent of the success of the port in attracting business can be gauged from the fact that in 2006 it hosted 37 cruise ships which was then seen as a major vote of confidence in the port.

A year earlier it had taken 32 calls. In 2008 it had 51 calls.

An independent economic impact study undertaken by the Centre for Policy Studies, University College Cork, some years ago, found that the regional economic contribution of the Port of Cork’s cruise business in 2004, when the port handled 36 cruise ships and 33,500 cruise passengers, amounted to €28m and supported 204 full-time equivalent jobs.

The port can cater for the biggest liners now operating in the world, and many of the liner visits for this year were repeat business, which augers will for the future.

Article courtesy of the Evening Echo newspaper.