Sydney will see several cruise ships forced to anchor mid-harbour and ferry passengers ashore in February as the city’s busiest cruise month gets underway.
A record 26 liners will visit the city during the month, five more than February last year.
The ships will make a total of 33 visits to Sydney, leaving the limited port facilities under the pump with no solution as yet in sight. It will put the spotlight firmly back on Sydney’s need for improved infrastructure.
Among the arrivals will be Cunard’s flagship, Queen Mary 2 on Valentine’s Day, followed by a visit from sister ship Queen Elizabeth on February 28.
Ann Sherry, chief executive of Carnival Australia which represents 13 of the visiting cruise ships, said the record month emphasised “cruising’s contribution as the standout success of the Australian tourism sector.”
While Sherry steered away from making fresh calls for an infrastructure overhaul, the Tourism and Transport Forum warned that it again highlighted Sydney’s cruise capacity squeeze. The body urged authorities to address the issue.
“Sydney is a highly desirable cruise destination, however we risk missing out on valuable tourism dollars unless we can address this issue,” TTF chief executive John Lee said. “As the ships continue to get bigger, more of them will not be able to fit under the Sydney Harbour Bridge which means we need additional facilities east of the bridge.”
Such infrastructure will “improve the passenger experience, deliver better value to Sydney tourism operators and help to attract more ships to Sydney in the longer term”, he said.
