Cruise choice is obvious

THE recent decision by the NSW Government to abandon plans to build a new cruise terminal at Yarra Bay in Sydney’s south has been met with a mixed reception from key stakeholders, with Executive Director Business Sydney, Paul Nicolaou, stating the move places Garden Island ( pictured) firmly back on the agenda.

“Cruising is a vital contributor to the city’s tourism economy and the solution to provide for future growth has come full circle to the shared use of Garden Island with the Navy,” Nicolaou argued.

“We know from the cruise industry that a berth is needed east of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Garden Island remains the obvious way forward.

“We also know that international cruise visitors come to Australia for the Sydney Harbour experience, not to pull into what is essentially an industrial port,” he added.

Garden Island has been brought up as a possible solution to Sydney’s cruise capacity challenges on multiple occasions, most recently in 2018, when it was knocked back by then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government, who at the time said the plan to displace Australian Navy ships with cruise vessels would not happen for national security reasons.

Meanwhile, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) said that a decision to knock back the Yarra Bay cruise terminal site proposal without providing an alternative “jeopardises” the local cruise sector.

“We recognise there is a lack of community support for a third cruise facility at Yarra Bay and respect the decision of the NSW Government to discontinue exploring that possibility, however the industry is disappointed this announcement has been made without indicating an alternative solution,” CLIA said.

“Establishing additional cruise ship facilities in or around Sydney is essential to the future prosperity of the sector...

CLIA looks forward to further discussion with the government to identify additional berthing...as a matter of urgency.”