Portland ‘megaberth’ attracts huge cruise ships
Portland’s megaberth Ocean Gateway is attracting bigger cruise ships than ever, including the Liberty of the Seas — the largest cruise ship to visit Portland this year — which brought more than 5,000 visitors to the city when it docked Saturday.
The Anthem of the Seas is scheduled to bring more than 6,000 people to Portland when it calls in 2016.
The Portland Press Herald reported that while fewer cruise ships are scheduled to visit Portland in 2016, they will be larger and bring more passengers, thanks to the investment of $6 million to build the berth, which was completed in 2011.
“It’s a good thing we went ahead and built the berth,” Bob Leeman, marketing manager of Cruise Portland, the city agency that oversees cruises, told the newspaper. “Otherwise we couldn’t get these cruise ships.”
Before the berth was built, the largest cruise ship to call on Portland was the 1,132-foot Queen Mary II, which visited twice in 2004. But it couldn’t berth on the waterfront — the ship had to drop anchor south of Fort Gorges and ferry the passengers to and from the city on small tender boats.
The Anthem of the Seas is 1,142 feet long and will be able to tie up, allowing passengers to come and go without the need for tenders.
The cruise ship industry has been growing globally since 2009. Overall, Portland’s projected passenger count for the 2015 cruise season is 97,000. Portland and Bar Harbor get the lion’s share of the cruise ship business in Maine.
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