The new London Cruise Terminal is set to be the first dedicated passenger terminal since the closure of the Royal Docks in 1981.

The city of London is now set to significantly upgrade is facilities to attract more cruise ships to sail on the River Thames. The plan is to open a Cruise passenger terminal in London, which by our recruited is the first for 35 years.

The selected location of Greenwich for the Cruise terminal hub comes as no surprise to most Cruise Industry professionals, as the realistic options were limited.

Media reports suggest that the terminal is expected to open in 2 years, however or redressed suggests it will practically take at least 5 years, hence all eyes will be on the progress of this development. The original plans lans created in 2010 indicated that the terminal building would be used merely as a stop-off for Cruise ships. However, new proposals demonstrate that the terminal will actually be used as a full “turnaround” destination for the embarkation and disembarkation of cruises. This fact alpine is expected to attract interest among Cruise Lines sailing into Britain's capital.

The new Cruise terminal will effectively allow ships of around 2006 long to dock just meters from the Old Royal Naval College and the famous Cutty Sark. Hisrorians suggest that this development will become the first dedicated passenger terminal in London since the closure of the Royal Docks in 1981.

At present just a handful of luxury sector ships call into London and they are required to moor at a floating terminal in Greenwich, which is operated by the Port of London Authority. This reality forces passengers to board or disembark by means of a tender, which is leaf than convenient.

It should be noted that small passenger ships can d already dock alongside HMS Belfast in central London, hence it's only the larger vessels that use the floating Greenwich port. Many other ships especially the Discovery sector and Mega ships use Tilbury Docks, in Essex to access London, which is more than 20 miles away. Our view is that few of these ships will covert, as the fees in the upcoming Greenwich Terminal are likely to be high and the facility can augur only dock one ship at a time. Subsequently, we envisage only luxury sector vessels up to one thousand capacity will use this facility. Typical targets will be Silversea, Oceania, Nobel Caledonia, Crystal Cruises, Azamara and the all new Viking Cruises.

The new proposals (led by the development firm Westcourt Real Estate), will be submitted to the Greenwich council. If approved, work should begin in the begin in the current year, but we doubt the terminal will open in 2017. The company declined to say what the cost of the project, which has fueled discussion with regards to hire high the final cost will be.

London seems to be gripped by Cruise fever ever since Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, called for a central London cruise port to be constructed in order to boost tourism in the nations capital.