London will soon see medium-sized cruise ships docking at Greenwich on the River Thames, as a new commercial cruise terminal received planning consent from The Royal Borough of Greenwich’s Planning Board in July 2015. Another boost is the approval of London Mayor, Boris Johnson, which was announced this week on Tuesday (26th August 2015). The new development, situated at Enderby Wharf (SE10), is expected to allow mid-size ships of up to 230m in length and a maximum passenger capacity of up to 1,600 to dock, providing a much needed boost to the Greenwich tourist trade. Having now received Mayoral approval, the terminal is slated to be operational by 2017. An example of ships fitting into the medium sized category are Fred Olsen’s Balmoral (length 218m); Costa Cruise’s Costa Classica (length 220m); Hapag-Lloyd’s Europa 2 (length 225m), and Holland American Line’s Ryndam and Veendam (both length 219m). The terminal at Greenwich will accommodate 55 medium sized cruise ships annually.
There has been some opposition from Greenwich residents over the Enderby Wharf development (SE10) that will also include almost 1,154 new homes as well as restaurants, cafes and bars. They are concerned about air and noise pollution. These trepidations have been addressed by an ‘Air Quality Action Plan’ put in place by the Royal Borough of Greenwich to ensure robust monitoring of air quality, with £400,000 being committed towards environmental monitoring and air quality improvement.
The new cruise terminal will be a major boost for tourism in Greenwich and will add to the £1.1 billion tourist economy that already thrives there, supporting some 16,000 jobs.
London already plays host to some cruise ships already at Tilbury Docks in Essex (some 25 miles down river) and also at London Bridge adjacent to HMS Belfast for small ships, but these moorings are not purpose-built and do involve at lot of inconvenient tendering and transport for potential passenger visits to the capital. A new purpose-built terminal for medium-sized cruise ships will greatly increase the popularity of London as a small- to medium-cruise ship destination and bring thousands more visitors to the Royal Borough.
