COVID-19 might be the end of Yarra Bay cruise ship terminal
The NSW government has postponed plans for Yarra Bay cruise ship terminal for up to 18 months due to the COVID-19 crisis forcing the cruise ship industry up onto the rocks.
COVID-19 is crippling cruise companies all around the world, and there are questions whether it will ever recover even if travel restrictions are eventually lifted.
NSW Transport and Ports Minister Andrew Constance said the proposal for a cruise terminal at Yarra Bay had now been “put on hold with all industry and community engagement suspended”.
Many federal and state Labor politicians, local residents and recreational fishers are opposed to the $500 million terminal at Yarra Bay.
Maroubra MP and former state Labor leader Michael Daley said the plans should be abandoned.
“This government has always shown a willingness to waste taxpayers’ money on stupid projects, and proceeding with a cruise terminal at Yarra Bay would be wasteful and irresponsible at the extreme,” he said.
The share prices of Royal Caribbean and the world’s two other largest cruise lines, Carnival and Norwegian, have plunged more than 70 per cent since the start of the year.
The federal Labor MP for Kingsford Smith, Matt Thistlethwaite, said the state of the cruise industry further undermined the case for a cruise terminal at Yarra Bay. “The economic case was marginal at best but it’s now in tatters. The government should just drop it,” he said.
