Port of Berwick Targets Cruise Growth Ahead of June Call
For Berwick, cruise calls offer a modest new tourism channel for a working port, linking maritime heritage with visitor spending across Northumberland.
The Port of Berwick in Northumberland is seeking to grow a small cruise trade after welcoming its first cruise passengers in 2021, with another cruise ship due in June and two more calls booked for 2027. Visiting cruise ships are too large to come upriver. Passengers are transferred ashore by tender.
The schedule remains small, but it adds a cruise element to a working cargo port whose main business still comes from agricultural products and as many as 50 cargo ships a year. Port and town officials see the calls as a way to draw visitors into Berwick and nearby attractions including Holy Island, 14 miles south.
Officials target more cruise calls
David Calder, chief executive officer of the Port of Berwick, described cruise development as a “slow burn” and said the port is working “very hard with the agents” to secure more visits from cruise companies.
“The cruise ships are not only good news for the port, they are also good news for the town and wider area,” Calder said.
Passengers using Berwick as a tender port can visit Holy Island or stay in the town, with its three bridges and 16th-century defensive walls.
“We have so much to offer here, so much history, and something rather different to a lot of other places,” said John Robertson, mayor of Berwick. “We really welcome the cruise ship passengers with open arms.”
A cargo port adds cruise by tender
Berwick has operated as a port for more than 1,000 years. In the 12th century it was one of Britain’s largest ports, shipping wool and yarn to Flanders and France; today, its commercial base is built around agricultural and general cargo.
The port handles break-bulk and dry-bulk traffic including grain, malt, timber, stone and cement. Tweed Dock is configured for smaller commercial vessels than ocean-going cruise ships, with working limits of about 115 meters length overall, 16.5 meters beam and 4.6 meters draft.
A dredging operation now under way, scheduled to finish Saturday, is intended to keep cargo vessel access safe. It does not affect cruise calls, which still rely on tenders.
The port is also looking beyond its traditional cargo base. Two offshore renewables projects used Tweed Dock as a base in 2024 and 2025, while Calder said cruise remains a “small niche” he would like to expand.
His stated ambition is for Berwick to reach “10 or 20” cruise ships a year, if the port can convert its work with agents into additional cruise-company commitments.
