Thomson Cruises has praised Tyne for being an excellent example of a turnaround port, according to Lisa Donohoe, assistant marketing and communications manager, Port of Tyne.
The company is operating 10 calls on Thomson Spirit from the port this year. Also returning in 2012 are Fred Olsen Cruise Lines with six calls, Saga with five and Cruise & Maritime Voyages with three calls. In total the port has 36 calls booked this year and already has 25 calls provisionally booked for 2013.
New customers this year include MSC Cruises with four calls on MSC Lirica, Discovery Cruises, Swan Hellenic and Peter Deilmann. Turnarounds number 17 and partial turnarounds 10 this year. In 2011 the port in north east England received 20 calls and about 30,000 passengers. Ferry passengers numbered 600,000.
The port’s purpose-built cruise facility, Northumbrian Quay, is one of five UK berths able to accommodate cruiseships of up to 300m in length with 10m depth in the channel and 9m at the berth.
Internet access kiosks have recently been installed in the passenger lounge and quayside improvements have taken place to both the Northumbrian Quay and Whitehill Point berths. The port is becoming increasingly attractive as a stopover for Northern European, Scandianiva, the Baltic and Round Britain cruises.
