Two Rock Passage into Hamilton and St. George?s Town Cut will have to be widened and dredged in the near future to accommodate modern mega-cruise ships, a coastal engineer has concluded.

And environmental impact studies will have to be done to determine the impact it would have on not only coral reefs, but also currents. Philip Smith, co-director of Smith Warner International Ltd, the largest Caribbean firm specialising in Coastal Engineering, Coastal Zone Management and Oceanography, was commissioned by Government in 2003 to do a comprehensive survey of Bermuda?s coastline.

CZMO was also involved in monitoring the dredging of similar passages in Barbados four years ago. Mr. Smith said similar work has been done all over the Caribbean, as other Islands were experiencing the same problems as Bermuda in that some of our harbours can not accommodate the new, larger ships.

Only Kings Wharf, on the North Spar at Ireland Island can accommodate the mega-cruise ships ? like the 138,000 ton, 157.5 beam Voyager of the Seas ? at present.

Although the widening, or possible moving of Town Cut and widening of Two Rock Passage are still being discussed, Mr. Smith said the impact on the environment would be both direct and indirect.

?There will be an impact on waves and currents may change. You would also need to do studies before, during and after of the sediment that will be removed as well as where it is then dumped and of course the process will damage any coral reefs in that area,? he said.

The initiative was announced earlier this year by Government to overhaul all of Bermuda?s ports ? St. George?s, Marginal Wharf, St. David?s, Hamilton Harbour and at Ireland Island North. For this purpose, a high-tech computerised maritime database, including simulation software, is being used to determine possible alterations, before actually making them.

St. George?s mayor, E. Michael Jones said he would love to see some of the new mega-cruise ships make their way to St. George?s, but with the limited width of the Town Cut, this is currently not possible.

Mr. Jones said at looking how best to assist and accommodate these ships elsewhere, including St. George?s, the computer simulation programme allowed them to see how much of the Town Cut needed to be ?removed? for ships like the to get to St. George?s.

However, Mr. Jones said it was not just a matter of making the Town Cut wider, there were other scenarios that needed to be taken into consideration ? including the displacement of water, sheering and the unpredictable Bermudian weather.

He said this could potentially be dangerous in the case of a mega-ship, if for example a small child were playing in the surf at the time ? beaches on islands on the southern side of St. George?s Harbour shore ? particularly St. David?s. Another challenge, ?sheering? which occurs when a cruise ship comes into close proximity to land ? as is the case with the Town Cut ? and causes the ship to tilt in the direction of land.

As far as the weather is concerned, should the wind exceed 25 knots, cruise ships generally do not enter the Town Cut and are accommodated elsewhere on the Island. ?If we can?t get small ships in when the weather is bad, how the heck are we going to get the mega-ships in?? he asked.

Mr. Jones said the computer simulation programme takes all these scenarios into account when determining the future width of a new Town Cut.

He expects some decision to be made by next Spring and said Hamilton was planning to do the same with Two Rock Passage by 2008. The brings up to 3,600 passengers to Bermuda and while this no doubt benefit local businesses in St. George?s, there is some concern about the volume of people this World Heritage Site can comfortably accommodate.

One suggestion was that only one mega-cruise ship ? and no other cruise ship ? be docked in St. George?s at any time.

Of the number of businesses and residents contacted, all backed the idea 100 percent.

Two waterside restaurateurs agreed that widening the Town Cut was crucial for future business in St. George?s to survive.

While a businessman said this had become a necessity since the biggest problem the town had was the current weather which limited when ships called.

He said when cruise ships did not call in St. George?s, he lost revenue and in the past had to cut back on staff in order to keep afloat. Not one of the handful of residents spoken too thought it was a bad idea. The dock master for the St. George?s Dinghy Club, Gary Brangman said that St. George?s residents and businesses were already accustomed to streets ?choked? with tourists, so accommodating the mega-cruise ships would not really change anything.

?Even now with two ships in, locals know they have to drive carefully because there are tourists crossing or walking in the street,? he said, adding that widening the Town Cut would not affect the dinghy club in any way.

?The last I heard they were planning to move the Town Cut to the North end of Paget Island by removing about 80 foot,? he said and agreed with businesses that accommodating the mega-cruise ships was something that had to be done for businesses in St. George?s and Bermuda, to survive.