IS it worth paying £9 million or more to enable cruise liners to start and finish their journeys at Liverpool's historic waterfront, especially given that ocean-going passenger vessels are the very reason the Pier Head existed in the first place?
The city claims paying what is, to all intents and purposes,a ransom to switch the terminal from a port-of-call facility to a singing-and-dancing embarkation landing stage will reap a rich treasure chest for Merseyside.
But whether it is worth the millions of pounds of income it envisages is questionable.
Observe the arrival of the liners right now and passengers can be seen boarding coaches in their droves for day trips to Chester, North Wales or other scenic destinations
Liverpool once ruled the waves as the greatest sea port in the world. Millions of emigrants departed from Princes Landing Stage aboard the great ocean liners in search of new lives in other continents.
The Empress Of CanadaThe wonderful wooden landing stage rippled gently with the waves, capable of handing them and fleets of passenger vessels.
One by one the liner companies left. Cunard abandoned its spiritual home and headed to Southampton. Even today, the first class departure lounge remains intact on the ground floor of the Cunard Building.
Across the road, the one time headquarters of the White Star Line – the building were the Titanic was designed – remains as an unmarked grave to a spectacular past.
Over the next few decades Liverpool gradually closed its river-facing front door.
The building of the new cruise terminal was the first step in re-opening that door and restoring Liverpool into its rightful place as a starting point for the new generation of ocean liners.
Campaign logo by the
Daily Echo in SouthamptonNow, not content with nicking Cunard off us, Southampton is doing its level best to sink Liverpool's modest ambitions.
Grants used to pay for the new terminal were given on the basis it would be a port-of-call facility and not a landing stage allowing ships to start or finish journeys in Liverpool.
Ironically Southampton developed as the premier passenger liner port when it was in public ownership – so everything came from the public purse.
Liverpool has offered to pay back the money received from the Government towards paying for the new terminal – as much as £9m and it is now hoped operations will begin this summer.
But moving the water mark, Southampton says the council should also pay back the European money it received, even though Brussels hasn't asked for the return of its euros.
Aboard The QE3 At Liverpool last summer
A few days ago, Liverpool hoteliers called for the row to be resolved, saying a departure cruise terminal would generate millions of pounds for the hotel industry.
But is that so?
There is no doubt the sight of some of the world's biggest floating cities moored off Princes Parade is great for the city. And yes, some passengers heading for Liverpool to depart on cruises will book into our hotels, providing welcome income.
However, observe the arrival of the liners right now and passengers can be seen boarding coaches in their droves for day trips to Chester, North Wales or other scenic destinations.
Click to enlargeThe actual economic value to the city is over-egged, but it is still well worth having as part of Liverpool's overall tourist pitch, and we wouldn't want it any other way.
But who in the first place negotiated a scheme that would only allow a giant "ship stop"? And didn't any officials ever point out the stormy waters ahead by not holding out in the first place for a proper terminal?
Does anybody deserve to walk the plank over this?
In the event it doesn't matter because if Liverpool wants a proper terminal once more, it'll have to cough up. Such a costly mistake though.
'I name this memorial....'
Liverpool's obelisk monument to the Titanic fails to mention the
name of that great unsinkable floating palace. The granite
memorial, almost 50ft in height, was unveiled in 1916 four years
after the tragedy in the North Atlantic.
It is officially known as the Memorial to the Engine Room Heroes, remembering the 32 engineers who stayed at their post to ensure the Titanic floated for as long as possible to enable more people to abandon ship.
Memorial To The Engine
Room HeroesThere were heated debates in the council chamber over what the memorial stood for – the Titanic engineers or ships' engineers generally who perished in their course of their duties.
One story is the big ship owners were resistant to a Titanic memorial on the Pier Head – particularly as tens of thousands would pass it on the way to the landing stage. Not a very appropriate final sight of land!
So to this day there has never been an official unveiling of the Titanic Memorial. When it was informally uncovered in May 1916, crowds gathered to view it – among them people mourning victims of both the Titanic and the Lusitania.
Wouldn't it be a good gesture in this centenary anniversary of the Titanic's sinking if this striking piece of work is finally renamed as The Titanic Memorial?
