If evidence is ever needed that the Port of Falmouth has to dredge a new channel and build a cruiseship terminal to maintain its position in the European cruise market, then look no further than Guernsey where this year cruiseship calls will fall by 66 per cent mainly due to vessels having to tender passengers ashore.

This month a decision will be made on ambitious plans surrounding a £1 billion project to carry out major developments between St Peter Port and St Sampson. Part of the scheme involves building a new cruise terminal berth to be started in 2010.

Guernsey authorities realise that cruiseship operators are shying away from tendering passengers ashore from large vessels anchored offshore.

Here in Falmouth, 2007 is expected to be another busy year although there is a downward trend in calls with 44 booked compared with 66 in 2006. The port handled 29 turnaround calls (Athena and Van Gogh) and 32 day calls with passenger numbers reaching 51,000. This year only 41,000 passengers will pass through the port.

A&P Port operations director Mike Reynolds said: "Although the number of calls this year is down, the number of people per call is actually greater."

Plans for a multi-million pound capital dredging scheme, new berth and cruise terminal at the docks took a significant leap forward before Christmas when funding was made available to kickstart the project.

Funding from Europe and the South West Development Agency (SWERDA) for a £500,000 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is now in place with an announcement expected next week as to who will carry out the all-important EIA that will take 18 months to complete before the final go ahead for the project is given. A contract with a leading consultancy and engineering company is expected to be announced next week.

SWERDA has also offered 35 per cent funding for the berth extension and cruise terminal buildings. Extending the Queens/Northern Arm berth to 400 metres, dredging to an alongside depth of 9.5 metres and constructing shore side facilities will cost £7.6 million with the A&P group paying the remaining 65 per cent.

On top of this, dredging costs will run to £6m or more depending on the levels of contamination in the dredged material. It is known that some of the seabed is contaminated by heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, zinc, and copper from centuries of mining waste and Tributylin (TBT) that has accumulated over decades from the sacrificial wash off of anti-fouling paints on commercial and leisure craft.

An estimated 70,000 cubic metres of this contaminated material will have to be disposed of according to tough environmental regulations.