Why the tides of change turning for Newcastle cruise ship terminal

A decade ago, the question was all the rage. The harbour can already host the behemoths of the sea for a day visit.

However a terminal would allow the ships to start and finish their journeys in Newcastle, bringing with it the wave of economic activity that's created by restocking and refuelling the vessels, along with an influx of tourism dollars.

We've been here before, so a quick history lesson; Newcastle lobbied for years to get funding for a terminal. The Port of Newcastle, a privately operated business, secured $12.7 million from the state government in 2016.

However, cost blowouts led to years of delays and eventually the government withdrew the funding in April 2019.

The saga left a sour taste in the mouth of many and the terminal dropped off the radar. But it might be time to revisit the issue.

Newcastle has seen a spike in cruise ship visitations; in the first three months of 2024, 10 ships will have graced our shores. We had two over the weekend, including The Ultimate World Cruise, which is circumnavigating the globe. Next year, 17 ships are scheduled to dock in the city for the day.

In Australia, the industry had a total economic output of $5.6 billion in the past financial year, a 22 per cent increase and forecasts for the coming years suggest the sector will continue to surge.

So, nearly five years since the funding was withdrawn, is it time to revisit the issue?

There are some who would declare there is no need to spend millions on a terminal when the system we have is adequate.

This financial year, Newcastle will see 15 cruise ships, bringing 20,000 passengers and 9000 crew into the region, and injecting $5.7 million into the local economy.

Those numbers are pretty good for almost no investment. A nice cream on top of the region's tourism cake.

But it'll be a cold day in Darwin when Hunter Means Business argues against our region getting millions of dollars for a major infrastructure project, particularly when we're already struggling to get our fair share of funding.

Case in point; last week NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully defended the decision to scrap Newcastle's $2-million grout funding program, which helped mitigate the risk associated with developments on inner-city sites affected by underground mining, citing budgetary reasons.

In the same metaphorical breath, Premier Chris Minns was at a business lunch in western Sydney extolling the virtues of the "massive injection of public money" in the $25 billion Metro West rail project.

I mean honestly, but I digress.

Port Authority of NSW signed a 10-year licensing agreement with the Port of Newcastle last October. The new deal is expected to see cruise ship visits "grow steadily", the Port Authority says, and is an "exciting time for Newcastle" which will potentially see a lot more international cruises in the coming years.

But when Hunter Means Business asked if there were plans for an eventual cruise ship terminal in Newcastle, the Port Authority had little appetite for the idea.

"The existing infrastructure is considered suitable for current and increased transit cruise ship visits at this time," the Port Authority spokesperson said.

Essentially, what we have is "fine". But you never want something described as just "fine". How was your day? Fine. How was your meal? Fine. How was your holiday? Fine. As a city, and a region, we should striving for more.

The economic difference between a ship visiting for 12 hours, and one that docks for a few days to resupply is night and day. And then there is the passenger spending.

On average, passengers spend $197 a day at a transit port (such as Newcastle). At turnaround ports (where the cruise starts and ends), domestic passengers spend an average of $516, while international passengers spend $661 - or 2.5 to 3.5 times more.

Hunter tourism advocate Will Creedon is among the loudest supporters of a Newcastle cruise ship terminal.

He's a man of big ideas, but he's also got the business experience to turn big ideas into reality - his short-term rental company Alloggio Group was recently purchased by private equity firm Next Capital for $60 million.

"If Newcastle wants to aspire to be a global city, it needs to have the infrastructure of a global city," Mr Creedon said.

"A cruise ship terminal would be a big piece of that puzzle."

A massive amount of work went into securing the initial terminal funding grant. Most of that groundwork - architectural designs, financial forecasts, plans for upgrading associated infrastructure - is still current if the region wants to revisit the issue.