Sugar Point - A New Cruise Ship Terminal for Barbados

Abstract

In late 2010, Barbados Port Inc. (BPI) selected the Sugar Point team, a joint venture of SMI Infrastructure Solutions and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL), to undertake a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study for a new cruise ship terminal adjacent to the existing Port of Bridgetown. The proposed new facility has been designed to accommodate the largest cruise ships in the world (RCCL's Oasis class), will alleviate congestion in the existing port (which presently serves both cargo and cruise operations) and will significantly improve the arrival experience of cruise passengers. This paper provides an overview of the FEED study, focusing on the technical investigations undertaken to assess the safe navigation, berthing and mooring of large cruise ships, and to define extreme wave loads on the piers. A companion paper (Knox et al., 2014) provides more detailed information on the physical modeling undertaken to support the FEED study.