Cruise industry turns to semi-industrial base as PM rules out Harbour berth
INTERNATIONAL cruise visitors’ first glimpse of Australia will be semi-industrial Botany Bay instead of glittering Sydney Harbour, with Malcolm Turnbull rejecting a plan to allow passenger ships to use navy wharves.
NSW
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BOTANY Bay will be the site of Sydney’s new cruise ship terminal with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull making a captain’s call, finally ruling out Garden Island.
Despite lobbying by the cruise industry and the state government, Mr Turnbull has told NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian the prime Harbour site and naval base was not an option to solve the cruise ship berth space crisis.
With Garden Island off the table, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal Molineaux Point or Yarra Bay, at Port Botany, have been identified as the next preferred locations for a terminal.
The new NSW Cruise Development Plan outlines that the state government will develop a business case over the next six months for the Botany Bay berths.
NSW Maritime Minister Melinda Pavey said residents would have their say.
“What we need to do is ensure we can protect what we have, but also grow for the future,” she said.
“This plan is just that, a forecast of what’s ahead.”
Peter Collins, who led the reference group inquiry into the cruise industry, told The Sunday Telegraph he was disappointed an agreement could not be reached for ocean liners to share Garden Island with the navy.
“The federal government showed no interest in engaging in what is a serious issue facing tourism, in Sydney in particular, and an issue which involves a growing part of the economy,” he said.
“This is a can that most governments have kept kicking down the road, both federal and state, and I think it’s to the credit of the Berejiklian government that they’ve decided to bite the bullet.
“They know a solution has to be found — the ships are coming, and frankly, unless we prepare Sydney, or be it in Botany Bay, to receive those ships, they will go elsewhere to places like Brisbane.”
Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said it was time to “get on with” building a new terminal, ready to be opened in five years.
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“I think this is an ASAP exercise,” she said. “We can’t talk about it anymore, we’ve actually got to act.
“Sydney Harbour is the money shot but being able to secure the capacity for the growth of the industry and for what we need right now when we’ve got summer peak, this is absolutely the pathway we need to go on if Garden Island is not an option.”
Australia is one of the world’s fastest-growing cruise destinations, with the booming NSW industry contributing more than $3 billion to the economy.
In 2016-17, 344 ships visited Sydney, up from 311 the previous year while the number cruise passenger is expected to double by 2040.
With Sydney’s current berths nearing capacity during the peak season, the state government has been under increasing pressure to identify a site for a new dock.
The growing size of cruise ships has also posed a problem with fewer unable to fit under the Sydney Harbour Bridge while some “mega ships” are too wide to dock at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay.
Royal Caribbean Australian and New Zealand managing director Susan Bonner said yesterday the Botany Bay sites were a “gamechanger”.
“It feels as though we have clarity, ” she said.
Royal Caribbean builds the world’s largest cruise ships — the Oasis class — which are too big for the OPT.
Ms Bonner said the new terminal will allow the company to start planning future cruises with the city considered a “premier destination”.
Yarra Bay is a quiet, tree-lined cove with a sandy beach, while Molineaux Point, used for freight forwarding and transport, separates Yarra Bay from Port Botany.