Double trouble for Falmouth

It’s not a good time to be an ambitious cruise port called Falmouth. There are problems for two towns of that name on both sides of the Atlantic.
Our very own Falmouth, in Cornwall, sits on one of Britain’s finest natural harbours, but if it is to attract more business from visiting cruise ships, it needs a multi-million pound dredging scheme which has already been the subject of a £410,000 environmental impact assessment into work on channel deepening and the construction of a cruise terminal.
But the South-West Regional Development Agency has announced that because it has been forced to cut £56 million from its budgets, it can no longer provide financial support.
Falmouth Harbour Master, Captain Mark Sansom has said optimistically: “We and our partners are disappointed to hear the news that the South West RDA is not able to provide direct funding for the dredging in Falmouth harbour, but we do not see this as the end of the line.”
It’s difficult to see, though, where alternative funding for the project can be found, as Capt Sansom conceded when he added: “We understand that it requires substantial funding and we are committed to exploring and pursuing all possible funding avenues.”
Over in the Caribbean, at the Jamaican port of Falmouth is planning a new pier to accommodate the Oasis of the Seas, and sister ship Allure of the Seas, but construction work has been delayed and instead of being ready next March, it is not expected to welcome its first passengers until December 2010.
That’s a huge blow to business on the island, as Oasis and Allure, which will be the biggest cruise ships in the world, would have delivered 5,400 passengers every time they put into port – probably about the same number Cornwall’s Falmouth sees in an entire year.
Royal Caribbean Cruises has announced it has changed 16 planned cruises on Oasis, suibstituting visits to Costa Maya in Mexico, which is still re-building after 2007’s Hurricane Dean.