Cruise ship too big for Scottish port forced to anchor outside
A 139,000-ton cruise ship sailing around Scotland’s Western Isles was forced to anchor outside of the port of Stornoway because it was too big to get inside.
MSC Preziosa, which measures the length of seven jumbo jets, visited the town of 6,000 people in the Outer Hebrides on Monday.
However, it was too long and deep to get near the berth’s dock and so had to remain in the outer anchorage, south of Arnish lighthouse, during the stay.
The 1,100ft ship is in the top 70 giant passenger lines in the world and is operated by MSC Cruises of Geneva, a subsidiary of the global shipping line, Mediterranean Shipping Company.
The ship can carry up to 4,345 passengers in its 1,745 cabins and needs around 1,388 crew members to operate it.
It can reach a maximum speed of 24.21 knots or 27.61 mph
Spirit of Adventure
It comes after a tiny port town in Cornwall hosted the longest and heaviest ship believed to ever have arrived in the town’s harbour on Sept 3.
The Spirit of Adventure sailed into Fowey, which has a population of about 2,300 and has existed since before the Norman invasion.
Operated by Saga Cruises, the liner takes almost a thousand passengers and is 774ft long.
It was a “big deal” for local tourism, said harbourmaster Paul Thomas.
