AN umbrella organisation representing the largest ports cluster in the UK has added its weight to objections to Liverpool’s bid to muscle in on Southampton’s cruise trade.

The powerful Haven Gateway Partnership, which counts the Haven ports of Felixstowe, Harwich, Ispwich among its members, insists Liverpool must pay back in full the taxpayer funding it received for its £21m city cruise terminal before a ban on turnaround cruises can be lifted.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is consulting on a deal that would see Liverpool repay just a quarter of the public hand outs it received for the right to start and finish cruises. The money was gifted on the strict condition the terminal would only host calling cruises on day visits.

An objection from the partnership, seen by the Daily Echo, states: “There are manifest issues of state aid to be considered as the facility will compete immediately with other ports which have not been beneficiaries of such grants.”

And it warned the deal to let Liverpool host turnaround cruises for 152 days a year would be a “gross distortion of the market”.

The partnership estimates ports in England and Wales host around 700 turnaround cruise calls each year.

The cruise industry in Southampton is set to bring £400m into the local economy this year with 360 expected visits from cruise ships this year.

The Haven Partnership submission to the DfT adds: “We have not seen the evidence to support your view that Liverpool Cruise Terminal’s market share will remain modest by comparison with Harwich, Dover and Southampton.”

More than 2,500 people have now signed a petition to ministers objecting to Liverpool’s plan as port businesses around the country unite to protect thousands of jobs from unfair competition.

An industry group, the UK Cruise Ports Alliance, last week launched a high-profile campaign to galvanise opposition to the DfT proposal.

The proposal last week sparked a war of words between the leaders of Southampton and Liverpool councils.

Liverpool council leader Joe Anderson, who had earlier this month offered to hold peace talks with Southampton, claimed his offer had been snubbed because Southampton was “scared of the debate”. He labelled Southampton “greedy”, “selfish” and “scared of losing their monopoly” of the cruise trade.

Southampton council leader Royston Smith called the proposed meeting a “publicity stunt” and vowed to fight to protect city jobs against unfair competition.

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