CRUISE Lines International Association (CLIA) has already engaged with the New South Wales Minister for Transport Jo Haylen’s office regarding a third cruise ship terminal for Sydney, CW can reveal, with Managing Director Joel Katz vowing to “hold her to her words”. Katz said by all indications, Haylen is fully...
CRUISE Lines International Association (CLIA) has already engaged with the New South Wales Minister for Transport Jo Haylen’s office regarding a third cruise ship terminal for Sydney, CW can reveal, with Managing Director Joel Katz vowing to “hold her to her words”.
Katz said by all indications, Haylen is fully supportive of the cruise sector’s position that Sydney is capacity constrained, and a solution needs to be identified.
“We want to hold the minister to her words, which is that the process is going to restart, the Port Authority is going to be looking at all the options, and the industry is going to be closely consulted,” Katz declared.
“We know all of the other states and territories have now got their development plans, so they’re all very focused on the economic development, visitation, and jobs cruise delivers, so it’s important NSW Government doesn’t rest on its laurels.
“Our message to the NSW Government is if New South Wales wants to maintain its position as the key port in this region, then it needs to address the capacity issue.”
Katz said while all stakeholders are likely to have a different perspective on where the next cruise terminal should be, he believes having the capacity for turnarounds is crucial.
“The key things we look for as an industry are the right kind of infrastructure to support the ships, whether it’s turnaround or transit, good transportation links, the appropriate facilities for passengers, for crew, for storing luggage,” Katz said.
“Obviously, it needs to be in some way that is not going to cause a great deal of upset or dissent by the community.
“Once we know what the options are, the industry will be very clear in presenting its perspective on each of those options.”
Although Katz declined to weigh in on where the next terminal in Sydney could be, he said CLIA would be supportive of the cruise industry’s oft-mooted white whale of sharing Garden Island with the Navy (CW 29 May).
“We do have the experience in the past of sharing the facilities on Garden Island, where the Navy has allowed certain vessels to dock when they needed to because of capacity constraints,” he said.
“That worked well at the time, and that would definitely be something that we would support.”
