The CEO of Holland America
Line and Seabourn says
Sydney’s poor infrastructure is
seriously damaging future
opportunities for cruise
passengers.
STEIN Kruse, chief executive of two of the
world’s leading cruise lines, says there are two
main challenges facing his company: the
Australian market is “finite” and its gateway
city’s berthing facilities are “antiquated and
insufficient”.
He also believe cruises are “too cheap” and
hopes fares will soon increase across the board.
Speaking to Cruise Weekly during a threeday
visit, Kruse said: “A world-class city with a
world-class harbour deserves a world-class port,
and regrettably Sydney doesn’t have that.
“I’ve been coming to this phenomenal city
for almost 30 years and the infrastructure for
cruise ships today is no better than when I
visited here 30 years ago, when there was only
1 million passengers cruising globally, and now
it is 20 million passengers, and more of those
20 million people want to come to Australia or
they are sailing from Australia.”
He said it was “mind-boggling” that little had
changed in three decades to keep up with this
demand.
“Assuming your politicians and long-term
planners want to be the beneficiaries of the
economic benefit that is associated with this
industry, they should do something to invest in
this beautiful harbour and not on the side of
the bridge where half of the current ships
being built don’t fit.”
Kruse said that the lack of adequate berths
was limiting HAL’s ability to send more ships
down under.
“We are looking at scheduling around the
single berth at Circular Quay and that’s not
sustainable in the long term,” he said.
Kruse sees no other reason why cruising would
not continue to grow locally, but acknowledged
the limitations of a small population.
“The reality is that Australia is a finite market
with only 22 million people – it’s not the US
with 300 million or the UK with 80 million or
China, which has so much untapped potential.
“Australia is a smaller market but it’s a
growing market and it will continue to grow,
but inevitably that growth will taper off, simply
based on the realities of the population.”
According to Kruse, the increasing
deployment of bigger ships to Australia will
not necessarily bring down the cost of fares,
claiming that cruises are “still under-priced and
we over-deliver”.
“We’re selling cruises for less than we sold
them for 30 years ago, and yet we have a
dramatically better product delivery, service
excellence and overall cruise experience.
“That is because of the current situation and
the capacity that exists, and it is the customer
who has the tremendous benefit.”
