G7 Summit Cornwall: Cruise ship for police officers docks in Falmouth
A cruise ship which will sleep some of the 6,500 police officers at the G7 Summit has docked in Falmouth.
The 202-metre MS Silja Europa will provide Covid-secure accommodation and catering for officers deployed during the summit, which will take place in Carbis Bay next week.
Superintendent Joanne Hall from Devon and Cornwall Police said, "It's just one of our many accommodation options.
"We've secured 4,000 beds in the local community over almost 200 venues but, with an operation of this size and the numbers of officers and staff we've got coming to work with us, we need to make sure we've got sufficient accommodation for them and so a ferry was our next option to increase those numbers."
The G7 summit will see major world leaders such as Joe Biden, Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson meet to discuss key global issues such as the pandemic and climate change.
The MS Silja Europa - in pictures:
MS Silja Europa, which has 14 decks, is described by its operators Tallink as the Baltic's biggest and most beautiful cruise ship - and is usually used for voyages between Helsinki and Tallinn.
Superintendent Joanne Hall said, "It's by no means about luxury. It's about appropriate comfortable accommodation for our staff and it will feed our officers and staff so they'll have three meals a day on there and a packed lunch when they go out to deploy."
"The facilities that are available are your essential facilities. So there will be bed, there will be board and there will be some open space for them to sit and a cafe to feed them."
The cruise ship will remain moored in Falmouth for 10 days.
In addition to the ship accommodation, 4,000 rooms have been booked across Devon and Cornwall to house officers.
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