The Real Deal !

Sydney is such a popular destination for the growing fleet of cruise liners that we are reaching the point of turning away bookings.  There is simply not enough terminal space for them to dock and allow thousands of passengers to spend their money on the city delights.

A luxury cruise on a ship is the fastest growing world holiday segment now that air travel is being condemned for adding to global warming.  The world's shipyards are inundated with orders for ever bigger ships to accommodate this trade and in the eyes of world travellers Sydney is the harbour bridge and the Opera house which feature so heavily on tourist brochures.

There is an answer to that problem.  Garden Island is the home of the Royal Australian Navy and its use as a port terminal would solve the problem,. but a decision in Malcolm Turnbull's term in office resolved that in the negative, so the alternative is to built a completely new terminal in Botany Bay. Any thought of providing more docking facilities west of the harbour bridge is out of the question.  Todays cruise ships can not fit passage under that icon.

A cruise ship terminal in Botany Bay is brewing into a major political fight..  The vast masses living with water views of this tranquil body of water do not want it blocked with the bulk of cruise ships and objections ranging from interference with planes landing on the airstrip that projects into Botany Bay to Indigenous land rights are being marshalled in rejection. There is fear that the dredging to provide water depth for the ships in this shallow bay will  permanently disturb the natural fauna that so entranced Joseph Banks when he arrived with Captain Cook.

There is a security concern about allowing cruise ships to share Garden Island with the navy and some people even consider having the navy concentrated in a major city an unacceptable risk because of the explosives they carry.  The alternative would be to displace the navy to somewhere like Jervis bay but that would come at a cost running into billions of dollars.

Sydney as a navy port was quite acceptable when it comprised wooden ships with smooth bore guns primed with gunpowder. Visiting naval ships today are usually nuclear armed and at any time there could be a catastrophe waiting to happen in the heart of our biggest city. The weapons carried by our own navy are ever growing in both strength and complexity.

Perhaps a time to give serious thought to relocating the navy to Jervis bay  ?  Sydney is fast discharging its commercial shipping operations to Botany Bay and Port Kembla.  If we create a cruise ship terminal there it is inevitable that this same space problem will recur a few more years down the track.

There will also be the problem of buyer resistance to ships docking in Botany Bay rather than Sydney harbour.  That does not equal the pleasure of cruising through " the Gap " to the vast vista of Sydney city with the bridge and the Opera house.   Overcrowding recently saw a cruise ship dock at Port Kembla and that will not be repeated now it is to become our gas terminal.

Short term solutions to long term problems are usually a waste of money.  When people pay big money for a cruise that features Sydney, it is the bridge and the Opera house they expect to see.
We would be wise to deliver value for their money !