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Auckland's booming cruise ship trade is being held back by lack of passenger terminal facilities, says the largest cruise line company to New Zealand.
"With a bit of investment, Queens Wharf could be a stunner," said Ann Sherry, chief executive of Carnival Australia, which handles P&O, Cunard and Princess Cruises.
She urged a speedy conclusion to plans to develop the central city wharf.
Ports of Auckland confirmed yesterday it could sell Queens Wharf within two years. This would give time for development before the Rugby World Cup 2011 when it is expected at least three ships will be based at the port providing hotel accommodation.
"Get going ... I think it's a great investment in tourism and a great investment in the city," said Ms Sherry, who is a former Westpac New Zealand chief executive.
She said Auckland was missing an opportunity to share in huge growth with the number of passengers coming into Auckland and New Zealand rising from 30,000 a year to nearly 120,000 in four years.
"That growth will now be constrained unless there are better terminal facilities," she said. "We could send two ships a day if we had somewhere to put them."
She said a better organised terminal could be in a big shed with the opportunity to put in shops on the wharf that would take people into the Britomart and improved downtown areas.
Retail added long-term commercial returns to a terminal, as was shown in Brisbane where a wharf development cost $10 million to $15 million.
This cruise season, 72 ships will visit Auckland, injecting $118 million into the local economy.
Ports of Auckland says its staff handle up to 6000 passengers in a day using the Princes Wharf terminal and as a back-up facility, Queens Wharf, which usually has non containerised cargo and imported machinery and vehicles.
Ms Sherry said seeing the World War II sheds on Queens Wharf was a disappointing arrival experience for passengers. "You are basically tipped out between the cars and if it rains there no cover and if it's hot there's no shade."
Mayor John Banks said if the city council bought the 3ha wharf he would make sure it was developed in time for the World Cup.
"I fear we are going to lose the mega cruise ships and the huge business they bring to the city and to tourism," he said. "We must develop a capability for the big cruise boats to come to Auckland.
"We believe Queens Wharf could be the Golden Gate to the CBD Auckland and to New Zealand."
Views on developing Queens Wharf as a cruise ship and public facility are also being canvassed by the Government Urban and Economic Development Office.
Cabinet has asked the office to report back by next month on whether the Government should join local and regional stakeholders on the future of the waterfront redevelopment projects. The question of whether the Government should invest in the development is also posed.
A discussion paper put out by the office says the main risk of not urgently addressing known problems and capacity constraints is that the focus of cruise transfer activity might shift more strongly to Sydney or other Australian east coast ports.
The office says feedback received so far favours two proposals.
In one of them, Queens Wharf would be developed to accommodate cruise needs and minimal facilities put in place. Ports of Auckland would move its break-bulk and vehicle operations from the wharf.
The enhanced cruise facility would provide easier operations and improve the overall visitor experience.
The other favourite option is a more ambitious high-quality redevelopment that increases the overall amenity of the wharf for the wider public and could act as a powerful contributor to the wider waterfront/CBD developments.
