Cruise liners will bring an estimated €50 million into Dublin's economy this year with a record 50,000 passengers, according to Dublin Port Company.

The first of 80 cruise ships will dock this week, up from 54 last season, including 10 grand-class liners that can hold up to 3,000 passengers each.

However, the company claims that any further growth may be halted by a lack of capacity at the port and it has called for a dedicated terminal.

"We are constrained by our lack of space at the port which, according to economists, will reach capacity by 2007," said Enda Connellan, chief executive of Dublin Port. "As a result, we will be forced to turn down further major deals like the €23 million Princess Cruises agreement announced last year."

The Golden Princess, one of the largest cruise ships in the world, carries 2,650 passengers and will dock seven times throughout the summer as part of the Princess Cruises deal.

The €50-million figure has been extrapolated from a multiple produced in a report by University College Cork in 2003.

In that year, the cruise liner season was worth €30.55 million to the capital and €65.9 million to the Irish economy as a whole.

Most ships dock in the morning and leave in the evening but some passengers will stay for two or three nights.

The benefits are not restricted to the city centre shopping area, as many ships offer organised tours to Malahide or Howth.

As well as passengers, 25,000 crew will arrive in the city and the sector will support more than 300 full-time jobs at the port.

A spokesperson for Dublin Port said that the amount of people coming ashore would vary but "the majority" of passengers would spend some time in the city.

"Obviously, some people will be happy to spend the day on the boat, depending on the weather, if they have been to Dublin before or if they have had a busy few days previously," the spokesperson said. "However, we expect the majority of passengers to come ashore, particularly based on our experiences with the larger ships like the Grand Princess last year.

"A lot of people avail of the planned excursions around the city, while others are happy to jump in a taxi and go straight to the shops or Trinity College."

The first grand-class liner to dock will be the Crystal Serenity, which holds 1,000 passengers, at the end of April, while the Golden Princess is due to arrive for the first time in May.