The Corporation of St. George's has called for studies to be done on the possibility of dredging and straightening Town Cut to make way for larger cruise ships.

At a town-hall meeting last night at Penno's Wharf, hosted by Mayor of St. George's Kenny Bascome, St. George's residents were able to express their ideas and opinions on the subject.

Alderman Beau Evans began the meetings by citing seven studies he would like to be done in order to determine if the cut can be dredged, widened and/or straightened.

He said the studies should include the impact of having a ship in St. George's, the impact of transportation, navigation, financing, the environmental impact, cost and a timeline.

"Nobody can ever argue that we don't want the town to be prosperous. The reason for us getting together tonight is so that a year from now we don't say "ra-ra", we're going to do this", he said.

Alderman Garth Rothwell said the width of Town Cut is 250 feet and the depth is 31 feet which makes larger ships coming in a problem.

He said the category St. George's is looking at is the Panamax but nothing bigger as some of the ships have a width of 100 plus feet and a depth of 26 feet which could be problematic on low-tide days.

"So what is the problem with getting these ships into St. George's? Just on the face of it, it shouldn't be a problem. The ship has to do seven knots to be able to stir.

"When a ship is doing seven knots, it squats down at the back. As these big ships hit shallow waters, they come down. That's the first problem."

Alderman Rothwell continued: "Second is they're doing the seven knots and the longer they get, the Town Cut and Hen Island is not straight. How much do you have to straighten it before you get rid of the problem? These are two problems when you're looking at the bigger ships."

Henry Hayward said Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruiseline own 81 percent of all cruise ships.

He also said while those lines are building bigger ships, Town Cut should have been looked at years ago.

"A study should have been done on Town Cut before the birth of the new pier in Dockyard. That $60 million should have been spent on Town Cut. You have 8,000 people on that dock up there at once. It's over- congested.

"I think the answer for St. George's is we have to make it possible for a Panamax ship to be able to come in."

The audience reaction seemed to be in support of the studies to dredge and straighten the Cut.

One man said: "We have to get away from this backward thinking. We have to have a vision. We have to have larger ships down here and we have to have visitors down here."

Mr. Bascome said: "I believe in St. George's right now. I say to all of you who have the opportunity to be here, I hope you all support every decision that is made. St. George's needs to have cruise ships."

Diane Gordon of the Chamber of Commerce said: "I think really what we need to do is be more aggressive with ourselves and to have more of a vision."

But one man said: "I really wouldn't like to see St. George's looking like Nassau. We have a very unique situation in Bermuda with respect to cruise boats. It's the only destination in the world where ships come and stay.

"It's unique and small scale and different from what everyone else is selling. It's good to be special. We need to stay towards smaller ships."