Head of Liverpool’s cruise terminal operations, Angie Redhead, put out a statement on Wednesday announcing that no cruise ships would come in until at least June. Tony McDonough reports

No cruise ships will call at Liverpool Cruise Terminal until at least June as the global cruise industry grinds to a halt amid the coronavirus crisis.

Head of Liverpool’s cruise terminal operations, Angie Redhead, put out a statement on Wednesday announcing that no vessels would call at the facility in the Mersey during March April and May. There were scheduled to be 12 cruise calls in that period.

Liverpool was looking forward to a record year for the terminal, which has been operational for more than a decade. More than 100 vessels were due in during the 2020 cruise season, generating millions of pounds for the city economy.

However, with many countries now on lockdown in order to slow the spread of the virus, travel across the world is grinding to a halt with most cruise ships now being temporarily taken out of service.

In a statement, Angie Redhead said: “We are in unprecedented times and coronavirus is having a direct impact on operations here at Cruise Liverpool. The majority of cruise lines are pausing their operations by either 30 or 60 days, laying over their vessels with just a skeleton crew on board.

“The suspension of activity will potentially affect up to 12 scheduled cruise calls to Liverpool within the months of March, April and May. This suspension means there will be no cruise activity on the River Mersey, which is extremely disappointing.

“However, we fully support the decision made and will continue to work closely with the cruise industry. We hope to return to normal cruise operations as soon as possible.”