A step in the right direction…

How offshore technology opened way to revival of historic Port Royal

By John Tavner 

The decision by the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) to revive historic Port Royal, at the mouth of Kingston Harbor, as a cruise port has caused a ripple of excited anticipation in the cruise and tourism sectors.

Port Royal’s revival has been made possible by an ingenious system called SeaWalk, invented and designed in Norway and inspired by offshore technology, that allows passengers to disembark from a vessel moored a couple of hundred meters offshore by means of a floating platform. This allows a harbor with no purpose-built cruise quay to receive cruise ships.

Using the SeaWalk system, Port Royal – gateway to one of the world‘s most important archaeological sites – is due to receive its first cruise call on 20 January 2020 in the form of Marella Cruises’ vessel ‘Marella Discovery 2’, with a passenger capacity of 2,000-plus.

James Bond

The extraordinary thing is that no passenger vessels have used Port Royal for more than 50 years. In fact, according to William Tatham, the PAJ’s vice president of cruise shipping and marina operations, one of the last passenger/cargo vessels to call Port Royal can be seen in the James Bond film ‘Dr. No’, which came out in 1962 – national independence year for Jamaica.

There’s no question about the current demand for a suitable cruise port on the south coast of Jamaica. Hitherto, the north coast has long been the destination of choice for seven-night itineraries out of homeports in Florida and the Gulf states. However, as Mr Tatham told CM: “The explosive growth in the ship orders, extension of itineraries, congestion of existing ports and the desire to deliver new experiences has made the timing right for Port Royal.”

An indication of this demand came in December 2016 when the Port of Kingston – not normally a port of call for cruise ships – received the ‘Monarch’, operated by Pullmantur Cruises, the largest cruise ship ever to call Kingston with a passenger capacity of 2,700-plus.

“The call was well received locally and this naturally led to an appeal for more such calls,” said Mr Tatham. “The Prime Minister mandated the PAJ to take the lead in ensuring that cruise shipping returned to the area. The PAJ immediately identified Port Royal as the ideal location for the establishment of the harbor’s first dedicated cruise terminal.”

There have been efforts in the past to establish a cruise facility in Port Royal, but the stumbling block has always been the fragile nature of the historical sites at Port Royal, in particular the Sunken City where the original settlement was destroyed in a massive earthquake in 1692.

“The National Heritage Trust [responsible for overseeing historic sites] made it clear they wouldn’t support the development of a cruise facility that required dredging and driving of pier piles due to the fragile nature of the Sunken City,” said Mr Tatham. “The PAJ understood their position and asked for their support if we were able to solve these issues, to which they agreed.”

Eco-friendly

It was now up to the PAJ to find an eco-friendly solution to the berthing problem. The SeaWalk system had already been deployed successfully in ports in Scandinavia. Could it be applied to Port Royal? Having earmarked the former coaling wharf at Port Royal as the ideal location, with ample depth and protection, the PAJ asked Cruise Ventures, the parent company of SeaWalk, to carry out a site inspection to see if the technology would work at the chosen location. “It did – and then it all fell in to place after that, including the support from the NHT,” said Mr Tatham.  

The SeaWalk was delivered to Kingston from the Vard Promar shipyard in Brazil on board the heavy lift vessel ‘RollDock Storm’. It arrived on 11 February and was floated off and towed to the Harbor Department, where it is currently moored. It is due to be installed in July.

Costing in the region of US$ 8 million, the SeaWalk is part of an ongoing project to transform Port Royal into a unique cruise destination with a strong historical appeal. Around US$ 50 million is being invested in the first phrase of this project.

Heritage

Mr Tatham said: “At the location of the SeaWalk the Port Authority is developing a full cruise terminal that will have the necessary infrastructure for ground transportation operations along with some light food and beverage offerings. Additionally, the Port Authority is working with the National Heritage Trust to ensure there is a compelling historical offering within Port Royal.”

The first cruise passengers will step ashore at Port Royal in January next year. Mr Tatham said: “In the upcoming winter season we are expecting four planned calls from Marella Cruises and are in discussion with a number of other lines for calls later in 2020.”

Fragile

There’s no doubting the historical appeal of Port Royal – but it’s a fragile environment, too. The PAJ is mindful of the potential impact of large numbers of visitors. “The SeaWalk technology naturally lends itself to protecting the environment,” said Mr Tatham. “This is why the technology is also used in Geiranger in Norway, a World Heritage Site. Port Royal will only ever be a single-ship port, thus naturally limiting the number of cruise passengers debarking in the port.” The PAJ will be targeting medium-sized cruise ships “until we are comfortable that larger can be managed”.

Of course, Port Royal is on the very doorstep of the Jamaican capital. How will its revival impact on Kingston and its tourism sector? “We believe the impact will be profound,” said Mr Tatham. “It will allow Kingston to highlight its own unique offerings to the visitors, including its own beaches, museums and other cultural, historical and natural offerings.”

‘Wickedest and richest city in the world’

Founded by the Spanish in the early 16th century, Port Royal – the swashbuckling haven for privateers that inspired the Disney franchise ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ – is one of the most romantic historical locations in the region.

By the latter half of the 17th century it was the largest city in the Caribbean and a center of shipping and commerce. The earthquake of 1692 left in its wake the Sunken City, now regarded as a vitally important archaeological site.

A popular homeport for the British and Dutch privateers who regularly pillaged the Spanish treasure ships, Port Royal became known as ‘the wickedest and richest city in the world’ on account of its vulgar displays of wealth and loose living.

Port Royal was also the Caribbean home of the Royal Navy for over 200 years, with great admirals such as Nelson and Rodney being stationed there.

With the revival of Port Royal as a passenger port, the PAJ will be taking full advantage of its potential as a visitor site. Mr Tatham said: “In the first phase we will be upgrading Fort Charles to be a living history museum experience and will be implementing two museum building experiences as well. There will also be an active dig site where visitors can view and learn about archaeology as the research is being done first-hand.”

And he added: “The struggle we face in Port Royal will be choosing which historical stories to tell as there are so many to choose from.” 

Norwegian know-how behind SeaWalk

The Port Authority of Jamaica is the first in the Caribbean to make use of the SeaWalk system, which has already been installed in four ports in Norway and in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

SeaWalk was developed seven years ago in Norway in response to market demand for an environmentally friendly and cost-effective means of disembarking cruise passengers at a small fjord harbour where a permanent structure had been ruled out on cost and environmental grounds.

Engineers devised a mooring system based on technology from the North Sea drilling industry and a new company, SeaWalk AS, was established in Bergen to take charge of the manufacture and marketing of the new invention. SeaWalk AS owns the intellectual property, design and engineering of SeaWalk and uses subcontractors to build, transport and install it. So far it has used the Vard Group for all its installations.

The SeaWalk system consists of two main components: the ship mooring system and SeaWalk itself. The mooring system uses heavy-duty anchors and chains, as would be used to moor a North Sea drilling rig in a winter storm. The cruise ship is moored either between two buoys or between one buoy and a bollard onshore. Ole Heggheim, chairman of SeaWalk AS, said: “The ship is able to move in the moorings system, typically 20 meters from the centerline, thus greatly reducing the forces on the mooring lines and providing a better mooring than could be achieved alongside a pier.”

SeaWalk is over 240 meters in length with some 1,200 square meters of deck space. This is based on a normal configuration where the ship is moored 100 to 140 meters from shore. The system can be extended if the ship needs to be moored further from shore. SeaWalk consists of three linked segments: shore, intermediate and shipside. The system is moored to the ship and gently follows its movements, thus allowing passengers to walk ashore in the same way as on a traditional concrete pier.

Mr Heggheim said: “The buoyancy in the unsinkable structure is designed for a load that can take all the passengers of a cruise ship simultaneously,”

One of the key merits of SeaWalk is that it can be delivered and installed in a relatively short time compared with building a conventional cruise pier. “We will normally deliver a SeaWalk installed in less than 12 months from contract,” said Mr Heggheim. “If there is an urgent project, we can deliver on shorter notice. The last delivery to Kingston, Jamaica, was transported from the yard [Vard Promar in Brazil] with a semi-submersible ship pre-installed. We installed the SeaWalk in the shipyard and just floated it into the ship. The only remaining installation then is to hook the SeaWalk on to the shore connection, which could be done in a few days. If we transport SeaWalk in parts with a cargo ship, we would need three to four weeks for a local installation.”

Between cruise calls, SeaWalk can simply be folded up in a storage mode. When required for a visiting ship, SeaWalk moves into position under its own power using two azimuth thrusters. This operation normally takes about 10 minutes.

From the point of view of a potential customer, says Mr Heggheim, the key advantage of SeaWalk is that it provides “a fully functional cruise port with no environmental footprint delivered in less than 12 months for less than half the price of a standard pier. In addition, the SeaWalk is removable and can be financed like a ship.”

SeaWalk AS has so far received over 500 calls expressing interest in the SeaWalk system.

“There are many interested ports in the Caribbean and worldwide,” said Mr Heggheim. “I believe Cuba may be looking for a cost-effective solution, for example. We have an excellent solution for Cuba when they are ready to expand.”