In a warning about competitor cruise lines trying to get their vessels better mooring positions in sought-after Sydney Harbour, Carnival Australia President, Marguerite Fitzgerald said: “The cruise capacity problem will only be resolved if all the stakeholders come together for a serious discussion, not by ships jostling for position.
“It’s time for a conversation about how we increase capacity in the world’s most beautiful harbour,” Ms Fitzgerald told Cruise Passenger in the wake of the NSW Government scrapping Yarra Bay as the third cruise terminal.
Carnival Australia has always been an advocate for finding a third cruise terminal in Port Jackson.
“That moment of sailing into Sydney Harbour is fundamental to cruising, not just in and out of Sydney, but in and out of Australia,” she added.
The cruise industry contributes $3.3billion a year to the NSW economy and there’s so much potential for that to be much bigger.
It will be more constructive if stakeholders start a conversation on how best we can utilise the assets that are already in Sydney Harbour.
The broader question is “At what point does it become too hard and too costly to operate in Sydney, but also Australia more broadly. Cruise ships are movable assets. You know, they don’t have to be in Sydney Harbour,” she said.
