This last month has seen a few small but important projects take place. The reviews of our fire management and oil spill contingency plans are now complete with only minor adjustments to each. A fire exercise was carried out successfully which will be followed by an oil spill exercise later this month.

A pleasurable sight was to see the new clock we had ordered arrive here at the harbour and it was swiftly installed on the front edge of the Harbourside building. At 700mm diameter, the clock, which was funded by both the Duchy of Cornwall and Local Action Group (LAG), has been designed and personalised to suit the conditions and is visible from the length of the whole quay and is born with a view to improving the experience of every person to use the facility.

After concluding this year’s cruise ship season we are hurtling toward the next with great anticipation. The trade has been steady over the last couple of years after seeing a sharp rise around 2007. With nearly nine thousand passengers stepping foot on St Mary’s alone we have now just pipped Falmouth to the post of busiest cruise port in the South West. At the time of writing we have 36 bookings for next year starting a little earlier at the beginning of April.

Next week we shall start decorating the Harbour for Christmas before the holidays and would like to extend our greatest thanks to all our customers for a fantastic year and finally to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.