The quay to international success

Jul 11 2007 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

At long last, Liverpool looks set to cash in by going back to its roots welcoming big passenger ships. Peter Elson meets the woman responsible for making it happen

IS THE success of Liverpool’s latest biggest venture into international tourism in the hands of one woman – council cruise manager Angie Redhead?

Will she, in fact, become our most important Miss Liverpool ever when the new cruise landing stage is finally put in place at the end of this month?

“So you’re saying ‘She could make or break it?’ Absolutely no pressure, then,” laughs Angie, 37, who is frantically selling Liverpool as a destination to the major cruise lines, while ensuring that the promised facilities materialise.

When megaliners such as the 150,000-ton Grand Princess dock and disgorge 3,000 passengers on each of four visits next year, her owners want reassurance that the 55 coaches needed for tours can easily be accessed by passengers.

“That’s what the cruise lines want to know after you’ve proved that you have a port worth visiting in the first place – can the infrastructure handle the ship and passengers,” says Angie.

“Promoting the new City of Liverpool Cruise Terminal is going extremely well and we’ve had great feedback from the cruise industry. I’m very proud to be the first cruise manager bringing the liners back here.

“There is great excitement in the maritime industry over any new developments and Liverpool is the only major cruise development this year in the UK, which makes it 10 times more easy again to sell the concept.

“At cruise conferences I’m known as the girl from Liverpool, which helps when there’re 100 ports all vying for the attention of a small number of cruise decision makers.

“Also I’m a female in what is mostly a small, male world. Americans think my surname of Redhead is hilarious, but that’s good as it’s another reason for them to remember me.”

Angie, born in West Derby and now living in Tuebrook, worked for Thomson Holidays for 13 years, based in ports overseas.

“My sister Joanne spotted the advert in the Liverpool papers while I was in Ibiza and I applied four hours before the deadline. It’s a very hands-on job and you must think on your feet,” she says.

“The marketing of Liverpool as a destination and the operational support must work like a finely-oiled machine. The tariff you set for cruise liner visits is crucial: the owners won’t pay just any rate and that’s been one of the trickiest parts to get this right in the European market.

“The cruise industry is a small world and it’s a people industry. Cruise managers want to deal with the same person and not be passed around port agents or harbour authorities. So for Liverpool, they only want to speak to me, Angie Redhead.”

Doubtless such personal contacts helped defuse any unpleasantness when Holland America Line was told that the landing stage would not be ready for its Maasdam to be the first ship to come alongside the new stage on July 29.

Instead, Maasdam will have to anchor mid-river and be tendered by Mersey Ferries as has been the case in the last 30 years. Another Holland America liner, Prinsendam, will be the first operational ship to tie up at the landing stage on September 2.

“Some cruise lines refused to come to Liverpool and anchor mid-river as they say it’s not conducive to enhancing passenger experience,” says Angie

“But with the landing stage, we can fully exploit our geographical location in relation to Ireland, which is already very popular, and cruise lines can build new itineraries on that.”

While London, Newcastle and Bristol have large rivers flowing through their centres, nothing can match Liverpool and the sheer scale and size of the Mersey.

As for land-locked Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham with its laughable claim that it has more canals than Venice, the less said the better.

The biggest liners in the world can practically sail into Liverpool city centre. This puts Liverpool on a par with New York, Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore – an asset it’s missed out on for 33 years with no ocean liner landing stage.

Liverpool even has a ready-made, world famous backdrop at the Pier Head to welcome cruise liner passengers. Whatever Southampton’s proximity to London and a multi-tidal location, fundamentally it remains a deep-water quay on a Hampshire mudflat.

Cruise lines and their passengers have become ever more adventurous, in what is called the cold water destinations. These include developing round-Britain and Ireland itineraries, voyages to Greenland and the North Cape.