Cruise ship terminal, more than a shed?

John Selkirk

PARTY CENTRAL: The price for developing Queen's Wharf into Auckland's second cruise ship terminal will depend on how architecturally ambitious the city wants it to be.

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A cruise ship terminal on Auckland's Queens Wharf could be as simple as a shed, or far more ambitious and expensive, according to a cruise expert involved with the development plans.

Cruise New Zealand managing director Craig Harris, who markets New Zealand as a destination to cruise lines and was directly involved with the Queens Wharf acquisition planning, said it is too early to tell exactly how much a cruise terminal would cost.

Auckland City mayor John Banks has put forward a plan from his council that puts the cost of developing Queens Wharf into a public space and cruise terminal at $100 million.

However, Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee has publically stated that he believes Bank's proposal is too elaborate, and instead suggests the development would cost less than $33 million.

Harris says no intimate design or scoping work has been done yet, and a vision for the final product has yet to be determined.

"Are we looking at a functional terminal, or something that will architecturally embellish the foreshore?  There are all these sorts of debates to go on yet, so I think we're well away from nailing down a price," said Harris.

"It has to be functional, and the merits of what happens to embellish that functionality, because it is on our waterfront, [and] is a matter for the city," he added.

So far $40 million has been put forward by central government and the ARC to buy Queen's Wharf from Ports of Auckland, itself owned by Auckland Regional Holdings, the investment arm of the ARC. Prime Minister John Key has said he would like to see the area, which is currently used to store imported cars, become "party central" for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Harris said making the wharf dual-purpose - both as a public space and a terminal - is entirely possible because the equipment needed for the wharf to act as a terminal is portable, and can be put away when it isn't needed.

He noted Auckland had become a cruise-liner hub in the South Pacific and if current growth in the industry continued, the sole cruise ship terminal at Princes Wharf would be unable to handle the volume of traffic and ships would have to be turned away.  This could deny the economy millions in lost tourism spending.

According to the Ports of Auckland, cruise liner visits to Auckland have grown to more than 70 calls by 30 cruise liners in the 2008/09 season, compared to 49 calls by 20 liners in 2006/07.

Harris said, from a cruise line's perspective, a plain, functional terminal was sufficient, but as and Aucklander, he would like to see something "more than a tin shed".

- © Fairfax NZ News