Bermuda?s docks have always been its lifeline but they only hit the headlines during hurricanes and strikes.

But now they are cropping up in news pages on a near daily basis as people question their efficiency and location.

Container limits and congestion surcharges are on the way in a bid to clear the overloaded wharf.

Despite the problems Stevedoring Services are keen to stay on Front Street but are being slowly suffocated with a build up of containers which has risen 60 percent in the last six years.

The Corporation has promised to remove the sheds where shared containers are broken up to provide more space but this is damned as a short-term solution by those who believe it is an industrial eyesore in a place dripping with tourism potential.

Sir John Swan?s On the Waterfront exhibition, which sponsored plans for redesigning Hamilton?s harbour, set minds racing while Tourism Minister Ewart Brown breathed new life into the debate last week by calling for a docks relocation to somewhere on the North Shore.

He wants reinvigorate Hamilton?s waterfront so it rivals Monte Carlo with boardwalks and sea front entertainment.

The idea of re-assessing the position of the docks also has the support of the Environment Ministry.

Permanent Secretary Brian Rowlinson said: ?It?s something this ministry is very supportive of, we think there is a lot of merit in having a long-term solution to not only provide a decent size port but being able to redevelop Front Street.?

Bermuda is blessed with a number of deep harbours and some of those below were discussed in an unreleased report drawn up around 15 years ago. Nothing was done, largely because the need to relocate was less pressing. Below looks at some of the options. Despite the range of options the most likely scenario is the docks stay put. Stevedoring Services boss Henry Hayward believes much could be done to improve Hamilton?s waterfront without taking the drastic step of disrupting the dock. He notes that the stretch from the Visitor Service Bureau to The Beach pub is Corporation of Hamilton land which could be exploited for tourism, if the will is there. By taking down number eight and seven sheds, which are further up Front Street, 75 percent more space can be created when the sheds for stripping shared containers are removed. If this is done the docks can last for another 20-25 years said Mr. Hayward. For Sir John Swan this is one of the main reasons it must go. He said keeping the dock there was a short-term plan adopted because there was no overall strategy and strategic thinking was needed for the next 30 years. However, Mayor Lawson Mapp has also spoken of the huge logistical problems of moving Bermuda?s main dock and seems in no rush to push it. A compromise measure seems the most likely outcome.This relatively undeveloped stretch of Pembroke?s north shore is the latest favourite of the ?it must go brigade?. Sir John Swan says winter weather dangers are exaggerated and can be staved off with breakwaters on either side of the dock as well another to providing a northern barrier to stop wind sheer. A jetty pointing north would allow two ships to be unloaded simultaneously. For him Ducking Stool is vital for a grand plan involving the whole of Hamilton.

He said the docks could be build using rock from Blackwatch Pass. A new road would come out of the centre of the dock from North Shore Road and link in with Blackwatch Pass, slashing across land owned by Government House which would need a new access road.

?The advantage of North Shore by the Ducking Stool is there are few houses,? says Sir John who also noted the location has ready access to Mills Creek, where most of the containers go.

lHamilton?s increasingly cramped nature has prompted many to look further afield for locations but most people see this as self defeating as around 85 percent of Bermuda?s freight arriving by dock ends up in a one and a half mile radius of Hamilton. One site touted is Ferry Reach but the likely outcry on encroaching on much needed park land makes it unlikely says St. George?s Mayor E. Michael Jones. Such work would also need road widening which would harm park land not destroyed by the dock and the location would still be exposed to the North Shore.

?It?s not impossible to have it here, but there?s an awful lot of work needed for it to occur. It will be very, very expensive. The challenges are extremely great,? Mr. Jones said.

He said journeys to Hamilton sometimes take an hour in bad traffic rather than 15 minutes. However, the exposed Causeway, which famously collapsed and cut off St. George?s after Hurricane Fabian, was not his main concern as he believed Government would soon replace it with a stronger version. Not sure the best place to put them but he noted if they came out of the City of Hamilton, the Corporation would lose a great deal of revenue.

As a brown field site which no one seems to know what to do with this 250-acre site jutting out into the Great Sound would have much to offer ? if it wasn?t so far from Hamilton. With all manner of pollution under it slapping an industrial amenity there won?t raise too much of a fuss from the neighbours ? there aren?t any. But those who think the peninsula offers a blank canvass for a tourist attraction to put Bermuda back on the map won?t be too happy. However, for former docks industrial security and safety officer Peter Bromby Senior, who also spent 20 years at the former American base as a equipment supervisor, Morgan?s Point is the ideal spot for the docks. He said the tender peer could easily be strengthened and built up with rubble from the deserted buildings. He said, at 600 feet long and 100 feet wide with water 30-35 feet deep on both sides, it could take the container ships. ?There is so much room down there. They used to park three squadrons of sea planes.?

It was also protected from the North Westerly winter winds and there was no bridge to Hamilton to worry about. Trucking to Hamilton could be done at night, suggested Mr. Bromby who said: ?What is 12 miles?? But he fears the Corporation doesn?t want to lose the millions of dollars in revenue from its share of docks duty. Accounts published in December 2003 put this at $5.6 million ? around 60 percent of its income.

Spare land at Marginal Wharf, St. David?s has been championed by some as a site but St. George?s Mayor E. Michael Jones notes the site has various contaminants which would have to be dealt with including possible oil and asbestos problems. Local MP Suzann Roberts-Holshouser is not enthusiastic noting that Marginal Wharf would need dredging to let in the . The site also has 200 homes being built on it whose potential owners might not want to be staring at containers and cranes from their gardens. She said: ?It would be extremely costly. It will drive up costs of all products as you will have to pay for truckers to take everything received in Marginal Wharf into Hamilton.?

With its ready access to the industrial estates around Serpentine Road, the many inlets around the west of Hamilton were looked at in a study of dock options but insiders said in reality there isn?t sufficient room. As Sir John Swan puts it: ?You need 15 acres.? He said inlets on the west shore of Hamilton didn?t have enough space or a sufficient road system, even though they would be right in the heart of the warehouse sector. He said Spanish Point had been looked at but the boat club was there and it was difficult to widen access because houses were right on the edge of the roads.