Cruise ships' return to Lyttelton the key to tourist cash in Christchurch

Monday, 18 June 2018

OPINION: It has been a long and tortuous journey to correct what still lingers as Canterbury's biggest post-quake tourism failure. Cut adrift from the booming mega-cruise ship market, the interminable wait for Lyttelton to establish a dedicated cruise berth continues its glacial path.

You only have to look at Tauranga, Napier or Dunedin to see what handsome dividends they're pocketing through enhanced cruise infrastructure. They're in clover on cruise days. Not dissimilar to the stadium debate, Dunedin long eclipsed Christchurch as the premier South Island cruise port, with its handling capacity for the world's biggest cruise ships.

Yes, postcard-perfect Akaroa stepped up to the plate as the de facto port of call for many mid-sized cruise ships, while a handful of smaller ships dock occasionally in Lyttelton.

But when Akaroa has been swamped by multiple ships tendering thousands of passengers ashore on the same day, the ambience of the village is unceremoniously trashed, giving rise to 'Tack-aroa', under the biblically-proportioned weight of excess humanity.

**READ MORE:

* [Record cruise ship visitor numbers for Akaroa 'well over happy balance point'

* New cruise $56m cruise ship berth for the Port of Lyttelton

* Concerns pile driving for Lyttelton cruise berth could harm dolphins

*](https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/104408502/record-cruise-ship-visitor-numbers-for-akaroa-well-over-happy-balance-point) Akaroa dubbed Tack-aroa after cruise ship boom

* Akaroa says cruise ships will keep coming despite Lyttelton berth development**

The benefits have been minimal for the Christchurch visitor economy, given travel times and distance. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of mega-ship passengers have involuntarily given Canterbury the wide berth, sailing on to dock at Port Chalmers.

I'm on record as repeatedly accusing the Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) of dragging the chain in re-establishing fit-for-purpose cruise berth facilities at the city's port. The fact that seven cruise seasons have now passed us by without decent berthage is not just a major missed opportunity, but egregiously embarrassing.

The protracted stalemate prompted the city council to issue a directive to LPC last year to get cracking.

Michael Esposito is one the city's most distinguished tourism operators. As managing director of Christchurch Attractions, his portfolio spans many of our signature experiences including the trams, punting on the Avon and the Mt.Cavendish gondola.

He tells me that 'if the key performance indicators for LPC's management had been tweaked to enable bonuses to be paid out on cruise passenger numbers instead of freight volumes, a cruise berth would have been built long before now.'

LPC chief executive Peter Davie counters that 'freight is the mainstay' and that following the devastating quakes, 'we had to make some choices.' The container terminal was the top priority for reinstatement and Davie points out that the oil terminal is another major piece of work that hasn't been tackled yet.

Thirteen months ago, LPC finally announced plans to fund and construct a $56 million cruise berth on Gladstone Pier, slated for completion in September 2019. But the rabid forces of environmental extremism brought a shuddering halt to those plans, with LPC abruptly announcing in March that its resource consent application for a new cruise berth was being suspended, while it refined the design and investigated the impact on resident Hector's dolphins.

A volley of eco-scientists, from the likes of the Department of Conservation, Otago University and Blue Planet worked themselves into a lather over concerns that prolonged pile-driving could result in hearing loss to the dolphins. And they submitted accordingly, during the port's reclamation consent process late last year.

Davie reveals there were wildly contrary opinions within the scientific community, but under the Resource Management Act 'you're guilty until you prove your innocence.'

Michael Esposito understandably ridiculed the dolphin card being played, thundering to city councillors that it was 'farcical' when he made his submission on the council's Long Term Plan.

Esposito tells me that he is now wonders what the next excuse will be. 'The disruption to native birds during nesting?'

Since 2015, LPC has engaged Dr Deanna Clement, an independent marine expert from Cawthron Institute, to help them mitigate any adverse impacts on marine mammals. LPC has certainly been through the environmental and iwi wringer over dredging, prompting their agreement to shell out $650,000 to a local Ngai Tahu hapu, to enhance access to mahinga kai and for research.

But what about the status of the cruise berth? Where are we at? Peter Davie has just exclusively confirmed to me that their plans have been substantially refined, and 'the redesign now fits within the regulations of the Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan. This means the new design for the wharf structure does not require a resource consent.' Pile-driving will begin in August with the facility forecast to open in time for the 2020/21 cruise season.

Esposito rightly argues that for the new central city to survive, particularly retail and hospitality, tourism is the backbone. And Lyttelton's lack of cruise facilities has been a major obstacle to the city's full recovery. He has done some quick back of the envelope sums, based on what the average cruiser spends in Wellington. Applying that to Christchurch, the enhanced passenger flow into the city is worth $86 million per cruise season.

With LPC set to begin constructing the berth, finally it's within reach.  

Now as for those nesting native birds….