Invergordon cruises to new record

The Norwegian cruise ship Nordkapp has travelled from Antarctica

A record-breaking number of cruise ships are coming to the Cromarty Firth this year.

Fifty vessels carrying a total of 39,480 passengers are expected to visit Invergordon this season.

Last year, 47 ships and 26,980 passengers stopped off at the port, generating £2.5m for the local economy.

The Norwegian cruise liner MS Nordkapp was due to arrive in the firth on Friday on its return journey to Norway from an excursion to Antarctica.

Queen Mary II

Captain Iain Dunderdale, cruise development manager with Cruise Highlands Limited - a joint venture between the Cromarty Firth Port Authority and Bannerman of Tain - welcomed the record figures.

He said: "We are very, very happy indeed with the rise in the traffic and, in particular, with passenger figures rising from 27,000 to nearly 40,000.

"Cruise Highland Limited has been actively marketing Invergordon as a must-see destination.

"One of the great advantages we have is that we can take the largest liners that exist at the moment.

"We saw that last year when the Queen Mary II berthed at the Admiralty Pier with more than 2,000 passengers. This year we expect five liners with more than 2,000 passengers."

Largest liners

Cruise Highland's provisional figures for passengers indicate a 45% increase on 2005, up from 26,980 from 47 vessels, to 39,480.

Gross tonnage of the ships is expected to rise from 1.1m in 2005 to 1.8m this year.

Nordkapp, along with other vessels Calypso, Crystal Serenity, Costa Classica, Rhapsody, Deutschland, Costa Atlantica and Golden Princess are all making maiden visits to the port.

The largest liners visiting will be Golden Princess with 2,500 passengers, Costa Atlantica with 2,200 and AIDAblu with 1,550.

The cruise season at Invergordon opened on 12 April with a visit by Nordkapp's sister ship, Nordnorge.