Cruise Wars. Southampton Gives Liverpool A Full Naval Salvo.

Southampton Echo fires a Naval salvo at Peel Holdings chairman, claiming the biggest benefit to the increase in Port Traffic will be for the port authority and that company is Peel.

They have even got a Cruise Wars logo and all this week they have run a series of articles relating to "Cruise Wars" while the Trinity "Smoking" Mirror Groups papers the Oldham Echo and the Daily Ghost have not uttered a word since acting as protagonist and trouble maker Friday last. They claimed Southampton were blocking the plans to make the Cruise Liner Jetty into a fully operational turnaround facility. No-one in Southampton knew the first thing about it.
Built by Balfour Beatty the jetty in my opinion was overpriced.
Southampton Echo Says;
The billionaire tax exile at the centre of cruise wars
9:30am Thursday 24th September 2009
Comments (7) Have your say »
By Gareth Lewis »
ONE of the biggest winners from the £20m taxpayer funded cruise terminal in Liverpool that threatens Southampton’s trade is a billionaire tax exile, the Daily Echo can reveal.
John Whittaker, the chairman and majority shareholder of Mersey Docks owner Peel Holdings, is the richest resident of the Isle of Man tax haven with a personal fortune estimated at £1.3 billion.
Although the terminal is run by Liverpool City Council, all visiting ships pay fees to Peel Ports as the harbour authority and liner visits are expected to soar if controversial plan to open it up to lucrative turnaround cruises is given the green light.
Whittaker, 67, is ranked as the 28th richest man in the country with vast property investments and his Peel Holdings empire stretching from Clydeside in Scotland to the Manchester Ship Canal and Trafford Centre as well as the Mersey docks and Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport.
Currently cruise ships are only able to visit the Liverpool terminal, but the city council is now asking to be allowed to use it as a base for the more profitable type of voyages that start and end at the terminal, known as turnaround cruises.

When you realise what Southampton got for £20,000,000 in the way of facilities we have to ask where did the money go.
http://www.bbcel.co.uk/capabilities/marine_river/76_liverpool-cruise-liner-facility

We are not saying any price fixing went on in Liverpool but Balfour Beatty have just been fined for Frigging in the Rigging.
Balfour Beatty Construction Limited and Balfour
Beatty Refurbishment Limited (for infringements
from 2000 onwards) and Mansell Construction
Services Limited (for infringements from 19
December 2003), together with their current
ultimate parent company Balfour Beatty plc. For
infringements involving Mansell prior to 19
December 2003, Mansell and its former ultimate
parent company Mansell plc (50% leniency)
£5,197,004
Mansell and Mansell plc
are jointly and severally
liable for the entire
penalty
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/parties-and-fines.pdf

Peel will also benefit from the Shanghai 2010. Reported in the Daily Peel was the following

Liverpool’s presence at the World Expo is estimated to cost about £3m, of which half is expected to come from the public sector.
Liverpool council has committed £300,000 to the project, while the Northwest Development Agency agreed to hand over £1.25m.
Peel Holdings will be the lead private sector sponsor, and has pledged £100,000.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/09/23/liverpool-insists-it-is-committed-to-world-expo-shanghai-2010-92534-24758510/

Robert Hough is a ex Executive of Peel Holdings he is now the new NWDA Chairman.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/liver-peel-conflicts-of-interest-begin.html I wrote to Gordon Brown and Louise Ellman MP complaining of this conflict of interests.
The biggest beneficiary to this Shanghai expo will be Peel Holdings and why do we have to subsidise them circumnavigating the port of Liverpool and shipping the traffic to their new port of Salford. And all they pay is 100K while they are raking it in.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/liverpeel.html
AND NOT A MENTION IN THE DAILY PEEL
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/is-daily-post-and-echo-mouthpiece-for.html