A new cruise ship terminal could be built at Bledisloe Wharf, says port boss Roger Gray.
A new cruise ship terminal could be built at Bledisloe Wharf, says port boss Roger Gray.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is unimpressed with Ports of Auckland proposing a new cruise terminal on port land, saying it’s not for the port operator to decide the future of the city’s prime waterfront land.
Port boss Roger Gray said a new cruise terminal is at the concept stage, partly to head off competition for the lucrative tourist dollar from Christchurch.
He was confident of being able to deliver a cruise terminal at Bledisloe Wharf within five years at a cost to the port company of about $10 million.
His comments follow the welcome return of cruise ships to Auckland this summer after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic and border closures, bringing tens of thousands of tourists and tens of millions of dollars to the local economy.
Last night, a spokesperson for Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said a decision on a cruise terminal would ultimately be taken by Auckland Council’s governing body and not the port company.
“It is not for a port operator to decide the future of Auckland’s prime waterfront land,” the spokesperson said.
Brown wants to progressively return port land for public use and has given the council-owned port company until March 31 to come up with a plan to develop the area from the Ferry Building to Bledisloe Wharf.
Cruise ship the Majestic Princess berthed at Princes Wharf on December 30. Photo / Dean Purcell
Under Gray’s plan, most cruise ships would still berth at Queens and Princes wharves, but with passengers bused or walked, as happens at airports, to a new cruise ship terminal at the Quay St end of Bledisloe Wharf.
Gray said the current cruise ship terminal at Shed 10 on Queens Wharf and cruise ship facilities on Princes Wharf offer a poor customer experience with no off-site check-in, and primary industry and customs having to pack up every time and come back.
What’s more, he said, Auckland is the turnaround port for cruise ships in New Zealand where people join and leave a cruise, the ships are refuelled and food and other provisions are loaded.
Normally passengers stay in Auckland for a couple of nights before and after a cruise and Auckland International Airport is the main hub in and out of the country, Gray said.
“The problem is Christchurch wants a turnaround port. They have built a purpose-built cruise wharf. They have got a better airport experience. They have got a better convention centre. Christchurch Inc is very focused on taking cruise off us.
Auckland port chief executive Roger Gray. Photo / Supplied
“If we don’t invest in our customer experience eventually the cruise lines will shift. That is why from my experience a cruise terminal is so important,” said Gray, who was chief executive of Lyttelton Port Company before becoming chief executive at Ports of Auckland in April last year.
He thought a cruise terminal would cost about $10 million, paid for by the port company.
The cruise business is a big earner for the port company, but Gray would not put a figure on it.
“We do well out of cruise,” he said.
NZ Cruise Association chief executive Kevin O’Sullivan said a new cruise terminal was a great idea because New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, is lacking that sort of facility.
The Pacific Explorer was the first cruise ship in more than two years to visit Auckland this season. Photo / Brett Phibbs
But O’Sullivan and NZ Cruise Association board member Debbie Summers, who has worked in cruise ship operations for 20 years, questioned Bledisloe Wharf as the location for a new terminal.
They said Queens and Princes wharves come into their own because passengers can just walk off and be straight into the city.
But Summers said she was delighted that Gray is talking about cruise and looking at infrastructure for the sector.
Last December the 348m-long liner, Ovation of the Seas, tied up at Fergusson container terminal at Ports of Auckland because at 348m it was too long to berth at Queens or Princes wharves.
