QM2 will show how docks come up short

Jason · March 8, 2004

By BRIAN KATES

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

When the Queen Mary 2, the world's largest cruise ship, pays its first visit to New York next month, it will tie up at docks so outmoded that it will jut dangerously 200 feet beyond the pier into the Hudson.

"That is not acceptable for an ultraluxury liner," said one Carnival Cruise Line insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Carnival, the world's biggest cruise line and owner of the QM2, wants New York to be the liner's American homeport - but only if the city acts quickly to build a state-of-the-art terminal.

Carnival's four years of negotiations over building a suitable berth for the QM2 - begun even before the ship was completed - have become a symbol of the city's foot-dragging on port development.

The city's Economic Development Corp. recently resumed stalled talks with the cruise giant.

As Bob Sharak, chief managing officer of the industry's Cruise Lines International Association, put it: "If you have to move because there is no adequate space in New York, it might seem for organizations like Carnival that Philadelphia or Boston or Bayonne [N.J.] will do just fine, thank you."

At stake are hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars.

"Every time a cruise ship leaves New York for another homeport, 2,000 jobs are lost on the pier, year in and year out," said City Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Council's Waterfronts Committee.

In December, Royal Caribbean Cruises, frustrated by the city's inaction on port improvements, struck a tentative deal to move its ultralarge Voyager ships from New York to new berths at the former Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal.

That will cost the city economy $1 million in fees, taxes and the purchase of food, fuel and supplies every time a Royal Caribbean ship ties up in Jersey, industry studies show.

When the 1,132-foot QM2 arrives in New York in late April - to the maritime equivalent of a ticker-tape parade, with water-spouting fireboats and harbor celebrations - it will have special permits allowing it to extend beyond the pier.

But that creates navigation hazards and raises concerns about the ship's stability in its berth, experts said.

Manhattan's Passenger Ship Terminal, between 47th and 53rd Sts., was built in the 1930s and renovated in the 1970s, when ships were only 700 feet long and carried about 650 passengers. It is simply too small for today's large luxury liners, which can exceed 1,250 feet and carry upward of 3,000 passengers.

With a single mammoth cruise ship taking up the space formerly used for two liners, the terminal can handle no more than three ships. But cruise lines are booming, and by next year, the city will need five berths with at least two large enough for the ultralarge liners, according to the Economic Development Corp. By 2019, six berths will be needed, half of them capable of handling the largest vessels.

The development corporation has proposed spending $23 million to build a terminal on Brooklyn's underused waterfront. The problem is, not a nickel has been budgeted and the figure falls far short of the $95 million Carnival says is needed.

Additionally, the Red Hook site is owned by the Port Authority, which has commissioned a study to explore possible nonmaritime uses for the piers.

"Clearly, there is a lot of interest in the Brooklyn proposal, and we are looking at it carefully," said PA spokesman Dan Maynard.

"The cruise ship industry represents a real possibility for our future," said Craig Hammerman, district manager of Brooklyn's Community Board 6. "What we don't want is to look at our waterfront a decade from now ... and kick ourselves, saying, 'We coulda been a contender.'"

Lisa63 · March 8, 2004

Interesting. The piers were originally built to accommodate large liners -- SS Normandie was 1028 feet long, for instance, and SS France was 1035. Perhaps the renovations in the 70s shortened things a bit?

I don't know of any luxury liner that exceeds 1250 feet, as stated in the article. QM2 is the longest (1130-something) and Voyager of the Seas is 1028...

Dan · March 8, 2004

For that matter, the original Queen Mary was about 1020 feet long, too. The NYPST website says the piers are 1000 feet long, but a ship can't pull all the way in, since they need room to throw their lines forward to tie the ship down.

I'm not sure how strong the current is in that part of the river, but it makes you wonder how much strain might be places on the tie downs having almost 20% of the ship's length sticking past the piers. For that matter, how do they tie the stern down when it's so far out there? I suppose they can use the engines to keep the ship stable if there was a tendancy for it to drift sideways, but I can't imagine Carnival will be too excited at doing that.