The cruise ship industry is now
the biggest tourism success story
in NSW, according to the NSW
Minister for Ports, Duncan Gay.
LEADING the growing tide of cruising in the
State is Sydney, which was described yesterday
as the “cruise hub of Australia” by Shane
Hobday, the General Manager of Safety
Security and Environment at Sydney Ports.
This statement is no hollow boast if the
figures are anything to go by, with Sydney
clocking a massive 214 vessel visits this current
year, up 43% from last year’s 150 visits, whilst
predictions pip this trend will continue with
279 vessels to call next year.
“We’re experiencing really significant
growth,” Hobday said.
“In 1996 we only had 72 ship visits in a year,
in 2010 we had 116, last year 150, and future
forecasts predict that in 2020 we will have 322
and in 2040, 600.
“We’re well on track to that,” Hobday added.
This growth is expected to triple passenger
numbers from 2010’s 215,000 to 700,000 in
2020, a figure which is expected will again rise
to one million in 2030 and 1.3 million by 2040.
This is of course great for the NSW economy,
with predictions showing that last year’s
$400m cruise industry spend (including crew,
passenger and ship operator spending) will
explode out to a robust $1.3 billion by 2019/20.
Looking toward the future, the Government
has committed $87m to boosting
infrastructure, including $57m for the new
Cruise Passenger Terminal at White Bay, the
development of a Master Plan for the
Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT), with $25m
set aside for improvements to the OPT, and
$5m for improvements to mooring facilities at
the OPT to allow for the berthing of larger ships.
“This capital investment will ensure the
provision of facilities that can cater for up to
three passenger ships at berth in Sydney at
one time – providing a significant contribution
to the NSW economy,” a statement from
Sydney Ports said.
The White Bay terminal, where construction is
to start “shortly” is set for completion early 2013,
with its progress being fueled by the need to
vacate Barangaroo by “around March next year”.
Meanwhile now that the furore over the
replacement of Barangaroo with White Bay has
seemingly died down, it seems that Garden
Island is arising as the next big port infrastructure
issue, with both the navy and the cruise
industry vying for a larger chunk of the pie.
According to the CEO of Sydney Ports, Grant
Gilfillan, sharing Garden Island with the navy
on a permanent basis may be the solution to
dealing with increased capacity issues that will
become a problem for the OPT in the next five
years as more and more cruise ships add
Sydney to their call list.
“The capacity of the OPT to cope with the
larger ships is going to be strained within the
next five years, there’s no question of that,”
said Gilfillan.
The navy however is not entirely thrilled with
the idea of sharing Garden Island, saying that
its demands on the area are also increasing.
“It’s a significant imposition on the navy when
a cruise ship turns up,” said Gilfillan, adding
that security was one major concern.
“So it’s an issue requiring a political decision
as to whether there is the money and the
ability to coexist for cruise and the navy,” he said.
“It’s not ideal, but the issue is the will to
create an environment where they can coexist
in a very specific way, but it won’t be without
some cost,” he added.
