LIVERPOOL’S ambitions of winning a slice of Southampton’s lucrative cruise business have been torpedoed after a major cruise line quit the city saying it was too hazardous.

Fred Olsen’s decision to pull up the gangplank on its cruises over safety fears was branded “a devastating blow to Liverpool’s bid to become the major cruise base for northern passengers”

by the city’s paper.

Ship pilots on the Mersey docks said “there was too much risk” of an accident when manoeuvring in windy conditions, leading Fred Olsen to weigh anchor after the middle of 2011.

The move, estimated to cost city coffers £4m, comes despite the popularity of the Liverpool operation, which saw Fred Olsen almost sell out its 7,700 berths on nine cruises this year.

The news will delight leaders of Southampton’s cruise industry who have warily eyed its bid to ramp up the business, fearing it would lure away passengers and liners currently travelling from here. It further boosts Southampton’s cruise credentials, with the city already the biggest turnaround cruise port – where sailings begin and end – in Northern Europe.

At just 28,000 tons, Fred Olsen’s Boudicca is a fraction of the size of the giant ships, such as the 154,407-ton Independence of the Seas, that daily visit Southampton without difficulty.

Southampton is also Fred Olsen’s busiest port.

Nigel Lingard, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines marketing director, said: “There will be no more cruises from Liverpool after mid-2011 and none in 2012.

“We feel too nervous about the current docking facility to keep it in our programme. Until we feel more secure about turning around in the city, we do not plan to come back.

“Our team do not feel comfortable with a ship based here as matters stand. It is too hazardous.

“The pilots can easily say to us at any time there is too much risk in controlling the ship in a 20-knot wind.

“That will then throw the whole cruise schedule out.”

It’s not the first blow to Liverpool’s ambitions, with its Langton Dock cruise terminal, which is surrounded by a scrapheap, voted as one of the UK’s worst by passengers.

A bid to use the new Liverpool Cruise Terminal for money-spinning turnaround cruises was thrown out by the Government following fierce industry protests because it was built with public funds on the condition it be used only for calling cruises.