Carnival details impact of cruise suspension on Aussie suppliers

Carnival Australia has released a compilation of supplier case studies to show the impact the cruise pause has had on businesses within the cruise supply chain.

Showcasing the range of suppliers affected, businesses highlighted in the compilation include farmers, providores, travel agents, technical service providers, tour operators and entertainers.

“The supplier case studies are representative of hundreds of businesses and individuals around Australia whose livelihoods have been hit by the suspension of cruising and who support the cruise industry’s calls for a pathway back for the sector,” said Sture Myrmell, president of Carnival Australia and P&O Cruises Australia.

“In normal times, cruising is a $5 billion a year industry supporting more than 18,000 jobs, and the cumulative loss of cruise generated economic activity over the past 18 months exceeds $6 billion.

“Suppliers, who comprise the cruising supply chain across a wide range of business types and a similarly wide geographic area in Australia, look to federal and state governments to provide certainty by agreeing to a plan for the resumption of cruising.”

Businesses highlighted in the compilation of supplier case studies have seen their turnover cut by up to 80 per cent.

Among the 24 case studies, which you can read here, is Sunshine Coast transport company Kangaroo Bus Lines.

Darren Webster (pictured above), CEO of the four-generation family business, said Kangaroo Bus Lines had acquired 10 luxury coaches to cater for cruise industry growth in Queensland before the global pandemic hit.

“When the cruise ships were still sailing, it was nothing for us to have up to 30 coaches a day devoted to a Brisbane call by a cruise liner,” Webster said.

“The buses did a mixture of shore excursions to places such as Australia Zoo and other attractions in Brisbane and its immediate surrounds, through to shuttle bus services getting guests from the port into the CBD and back again.

“We invested heavily in capital to support cruise operations and even though the ships are no longer here, the capital still is and our tourism business is down about 30 per cent without cruising.

“Over a two- to three-year term, we bought 10 coaches, at $550,000 a throw, roughly.

“And there was also the investment in ground staff and training to make them seamlessly part of the cruise line brand.”

Webster said it will take months for any cruise ships to return, but engagement with the industry was needed now to provide the tourism sector with some certainty.

He said there was often a reference to ‘we are all in this together’, but there was little recognition that tourism-connected businesses such as his family’s were haemorrhaging money at an alarming rate each day.

“We are part of the tourism supply chain too,” Webster said.

“We bring thousands of cruise visitors into Brisbane on our coaches and they spend money adding to the local economy.”