Facilities for huge cruise ships required urgently
AUCKLAND: The operator of the biggest cruise ship to visit this country says Auckland should move quickly to build facilities for massive vessels or risk losing visits.
Royal Caribbean has pulled a ship out of Sydney for the 201819 season because of a shortage of berthing facilities and says if wharf extensions are delayed in Auckland there is a risk of the same happening in this country.
During the past summer, the line carried 75,000 people to New Zealand ports and estimates this injected $40 million in passenger spending into the regions.
But in Auckland, its biggest ship, Ovation of the Seas, had to anchor in the harbour because cruise ship wharves were not long enough to accommodate it.
The same ship visited Dunedin twice in the past cruise season, each time berthing at Beach St wharf, at Port Chalmers.
Auckland Council is assessing a $10 million extension of Queens Wharf which would allow Ovation to tie up alongside.
Royal Caribbean Australia and New Zealand managing director Adam Armstrong said the current arrangement in Auckland was ‘‘embarrassing’’.
‘‘My message is that we’re coming next season and we want to be tying Ovation up alongside.
‘‘We don’t want a solution in two or three years’ time — we need a solution in six months’ time,’’ Mr Armstrong said.
‘‘The biggest cruise ship in the southern hemisphere embarrassingly has to anchor in the middle of the harbour.’’
Auckland City’s planning committee has heard the growing cruise industry provides benefits to the regional economy of $220 million annually and nearly 4000 jobs.
Ship visits have grown from 40 in 2006 to 104 in 2016 and passenger numbers have increased from 60,000 to 220,000 in the same period.
While council staff have recommended the construction of a ‘‘mooring dolphin’’, it will not be operational until the 201819 cruise season, subject to resource consent approval.
Mr Armstrong said Royal Caribbean was taking Voyager of the Seas — capable of carrying nearly 3900 passengers — out of Sydney because of a lack of space and suitable slots in the 201819 cruise season.
Megaships were the future of the mainstream cruise industry and infrastructure for them needed to be built.
‘‘We are unique in that our assets are movable, so if the infrastructure is not there or doesn’t meet our needs we will find somewhere else to go.’’
Mr Armstrong said New Zealand would see more of the 166,000 gross tonne Ovation during the next two summers and another of its ships, Radiance of the Seas, would increase the number of turnarounds — where passengers start and finish a cruise — in Auckland.
These are most valuable to the local economy as passengers fly in and out and many stay in hotels either side of their journey.
Cruise New Zealand says that during the past summer 41 ships made 760 calls to 31 locations, bringing an expected benefit to the New Zealand economy of $490 million spread across the regions. — NZME
❛The biggest cruise ship in the southern hemisphere embarrassingly has to anchor in the middle of the harbour❜