LIVERPOOL city council leader Joe Anderson told business leaders he was “pretty confident” the campaign to establish a full cruise terminal would be successful.

The council has submitted a bid for the Princes Dock cruise liner terminal to be converted into a fully-serviced facility so cruises can start and finish in Liverpool, rather than use it as a stopover point in holiday itineraries.

Click here to see our Get On Board cruise liner campaign.

Speaking at a Liverpool Business Week event, Cllr Anderson said: “Hopefully by Friday, or the end of this week, we’ll have a statement from the Government about what they’re going to do in regards to our proposals.

“I’m pretty confident that in a couple of weeks we’ll have a positive announcement to make.”

Cllr Anderson, speaking at the Downtown in Liverpool Business and Liverpool Vision event, mentioned the council had been in talks with a number of high-profile cruise liner companies, including Fred Olsen and Royal Caribbean, as well as land developer Peel.

He reiterated his confidence in the success of the proposals, saying “it will happen” and that he was not worried about rival Southampton, adding that while the port benefits from more than half a million cruise line tourists a year, Liverpool has much more to offer.

Liverpool council, backed by the Daily Post’s Get on Board campaign, is currently lobbying government to lift the ban on cruises launching from the Pier Head.

City council officials are hoping to receive government confirmation that European Union state aid rules are no barrier to their plans to install “turnaround facilities”.

That confirmation would allow Liverpool to submit a firm proposal for how much it will repay of the grant aid it received for the existing Pier Head terminal – a sum that could be as high as £15m.

Cruise turnarounds would begin in late 2012, although millions must be spent on passport, check-in and luggage facilities - allowing tourists to visit Liverpool for days, or weeks, rather than a few hours.