The island of Grand Cayman, which has long resisted building a cruise ship dock out of concern about environmental damage that would result from dredging a channel into George Town Harbor, has now decided to start development of a dock for four ships.

"The project to establish berthing facilities in Grand Cayman has begun. The initial phase, an environmental impact assessment, has just started," Tourism Minister Charles Clifford said this week.

At present, cruise ships anchor off George Town, and tenders ferry their thousands of passengers back and forth to town. At some times of year, cruise ships are forced to skip scheduled visits to the island because the shallow waters off Grand Cayman are too rough for tendering.

The major cruise lines whose ships visit Grand Cayman clearly would prefer to be able to tie up at a dock, where their passengers could simply walk off a ship straight onto land.

But until now, environmentalists -- concerned over damage to the coral reefs that surround the island of Grand Cayman -- successfully blocked consideration of dredging a channel to build a dock for cruise ships.

But Clifford told the Chamber of Commerce on July 26th that the government is now committed to building a dock that will "take Cayman from the yesteryear of cruising and will allow us to provide a safer, standardised and enjoyable experience to those who call on our shores.

"Berthing facilities have been in the news recently and I can tell you today it will happen," Clifford said.

"The Port Authority and the Ministry are working with the Department of Environment and an international environment firm to ensure that best practices are observed in the plan, design and build of the facilities," he added.

Clifford said the environmental impact assessment would address environment and hazard vulnerability, potential environmental impacts and mitigation measures, and monitoring. He said a public consultation process would begin in September, at which time more information will be provided.