Port wants 20-25 cruise ship visits each summer
Port Nelson would like to see up to 25 cruise ships over summer, the company’s boss says.
Eight cruise ships visited Nelson this summer, including two in one day in January.
Port Nelson chief executive Hugh Morrison told a joint committee of the Tasman District and Nelson City councils, that the port would like to see between 20 and 25 cruise ships through Nelson.
“I think above that would have problems with the rest of our cargo and throughput, but there is capacity to grow that market,” Morrison said.
Nelson mayor Nick Smith said there was always “a bit of a question” about cruise ships in terms of the contribution they made to the regional economy.
Smith was interested in how the port priced its services for the cruise ship industry – whether there was a cost recovery, a margin, or a loss.
That sector of tourism was going to continue to grow greatly, according to global estimates, he said.
“We want to be part of the action, but also we want to make sure that they’re meeting their share of the costs of running a big piece of infrastructure that the port company runs on behalf of our two councils.”
Morrison said the cruise company business made a positive contribution to the port. “If we look at them as a marginal benefit, given that that wharf is there anyway primarily for containers, then it's a significant benefit or a material benefit. In general, we see cruises as good.”
Outside the meeting, Morrison told Stuff the feedback from cruise ship passengers was that they really enjoyed visiting Nelson.
Biking tours in particular had been a strong attraction for passengers, he said.
The committee also heard updates about the port and airport businesses, jointly owned by the councils.
General manager operations Matt McDonald said there had been new cargo moving through the port, mineral sands out of Westport, and the beginning of “reasonably significant volumes” of E’stel water into China.
E’stel water is sourced from deep below the Waimea plains, near Brightwater.
They had also seen an increase in the numbers of new Honda vehicles through Nelson, which “caught us pleasantly by surprise”.
The port’s 2024 half year report showed $42.9 million in revenue, and $2.6m in profit after tax.
Morrison said the mid-year numbers were “below where we wanted them to be”.
“That’s really reflected in much tougher trading conditions than we had envisaged, which is a trend that we're seeing right around New Zealand ports.”
Nelson Airport chief executive Mark Thompson said that as they came out of Covid, the airport was sitting at 900,000 passengers annually on average.
“Passenger numbers are not really where we really wanted them to be,” he said.
“We forecasted about 940,000 for the year, and we are probably going to do about 920,000 at the current run rate. We’re all seeing it in business, people are just not flying for whatever reason.”
Outside the meeting, Thompson said reasons for not travelling included the “general economy”.
“It’s no secret that pricing is quite high, the airlines have got some issues with aircraft availability. People’s financial circumstances are a bit tight.”
Passenger numbers were down 3%, and revenue was down 4%, but the airport was tightening its belt.
“We’re holding our costs,” Thompson said.
“I think above that [20 to 25 ships] we would have problems with the rest of our cargo and throughput, but there is capacity to grow that market.”
Hugh Morrison, Port Nelson chief executive