There is something paradoxical about the fact that the cruise industry continues to experience problems with land based infrastructure in Sydney, Australia.
Sydney is one of the greatest natural harbours in the world: a huge and sheltered bay that has several miles of shoreline and it has deep water too.
However, local authorities have preferred to dedicate the shoreline for housing rather than shipping. Moving cargo handling away from city centres, with all the associated noise and traffic, is a trend that has taken place in Sydney and in many cities around the world, and for good reasons.
But when cruise ships have nowhere to dock in the centre of a city, the experience that passengers have changes. Instead of walking down the gangway to enjoy the destination, it becomes necessary to take a bus or a taxi. The bigger the ship in question, the more traffic there will be on the roads.
True, Sydney has retained its iconic Circular Quay terminal, which is right in the centre of the city, near the famous harbor bridge. But facilities at Pyrmont on the other side of the bridge and Woolloomooloo near the Garden Island base of Royal Australian Navy have vanished. Media reports say that turnaround calls have taken place by using tenders.
Sydney’s problems are neither new nor unique. However, as tourism is being looked at with increasingly critical eyes in many cities – such as Amsterdam that imposed a tax on e.g. cruise passengers – problems arising from access to convenient terminals refuse to go away.
Instead, they pose a major concern for the cruise industry that is probably going to deepen in the years to come.