1:38 am on Tuesday November 1, 2011
| Posted by Ken Hawkins
Cruise ship Queen Victoria won't visit Charleston, but expect it to play in Union Terminal debate
Image by Flickr user Bruce Tuten
On December 5th, 2,000 people were expected to disembark from the 965-foot Queen Victoria cruise ship for a visit in Charleston during a cross-Atlantic trip.
Now that victory has been scrapped and the news will almost certainly become a point debate in when and how the contentious Union Pier Terminal redevelopment is done.
Why? At the heart of the news that Queen Victoria would not call on Charleston is a bottleneck in how quickly customs screening could be done of the 2,000 passengers and 1,000 staff aboard the ship.
The Post and Courier reports that local number gurus say the change of plans will cost the Charleston economy $250,000 to $300,000 dollars.