The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to construct a new passenger ship terminal able to accommodate the world's increasingly larger cruise ships and their thousands of passengers, reports The Nikkei.
The terminal will be built at the new Tokyo waterfront subcenter, a popular tourist spot with good public transportation, most likely in the Aomi area. Plans call for a pier capable of anchoring cruise ships more than 300 metres in length and a building to house immigration control and customs.
Construction costs are expected to exceed 10 billion yen (US$100 million), with completion in time for the city's hosting of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Cruise ships from home and abroad currently call at Harumi Passenger Ship Terminal in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. But ships have grown ever larger in recent years, and many new vessels are unable to pass under Rainbow Bridge near the terminal, whose girders extend 52 metres above the water. As a result, the number of port calls made by cruise ships at the Port of Tokyo has been flat, while other Japanese ports have seen an increase of about 40 per cent since 2005.
So far, only stopgap solutions have been available, as the Voyager of the Seas found in April when it made its first call at the Port of Tokyo. The massive ship, unable to pass under the Rainbow Bridge, was tentatively docked at the Oi Marine Products Wharf.
The wharf, usually used for unloading shrimp and other seafood, is not suited for passenger vessels because land transportation near the area is inconvenient. Moreover, the wharf can generally be used only on Saturdays and Sundays.
Source: The Nikkei