‘We’re the ones that get penalised’ - ferry user laments cruise ship disruptions

Tuesday, 6 February 2024

More than 260 ferry trips have been disrupted in Auckland by cruise ships this season, with ferry users feeling like they’re paying the price for the rebound of the industry post-Covid.

Ferry commuter and shift worker, Sam Mojel, said the delays and cancellations have been “hugely frustrating”.

He questions whether ferry users are paying the price for the economic benefits others gain from the cruise industry.

“We’re the ones that get penalised,” he said.

An intensive care nurse at Auckland Hospital, Mojel often takes the first ferry of the day from Devonport at 6am to arrive at work for a 7am handover from the night shift.

Before leaving home, Mojel said he would check the AT app to make sure the ferry was on time and everything would look OK, but some days there would be no sign of a ferry when he got to the wharf.

Cruise ships that berth at Princes, rather than Queens Wharf, share the downtown ferry basin with ferries which stop running when the large vessels come and go.

Port of Auckland chief executive Roger Gray said cruise ships, which contribute “a significant percentage” to the company’s profitability, have always operated on Princes Wharf.

The issue is that when a ship puts on its bow thruster, it blows into the ferry basin, causing a churn, he said.

But what is not clear, is when the decision was made for ferries to halt operations while a cruise ship manoeuvres.

After a review at the end of the 2019 cruise season, the Harbour Master extended the cut-off times when cruise ships must not use engines or thrusters within the ferry basin. That’s now between 6.30am and 9.05am, and from 4.30pm to 6.05pm on weekdays, and on weekends between 8.30am and 12pm, and from 4.30pm to 6.05pm.

An AT spokesperson said the Harbour Master’s directive does not prevent smaller vessels from operating in the ferry basin when cruise ships are moving there, and the decision not to operate came from ferry operators based on health and safety concerns.

However, a Fullers360 spokesperson said AT’s pre-agreed standard operating procedure restricts all ferry operators “from operating in the basin while a cruise ship is arriving or departing due to the significant wake and wash created while a cruise ship is thrusting”.

The issue seems to be peculiar to Auckland. Over the ditch in Sydney, disruptions to ferries from cruise ship comings and goings are rare, a spokesperson for Transport NSW said. There, ferries can continue operating when cruise ships are manoeuvring.

So can Auckland’s authorities fix the issue for ferry users?

Gray said no changes can be made this season, but the port and AT are working with cruise companies to push next season’s lockout period back to around 7pm in the evening and a little earlier in the morning.

And the port has started work on the consent process to build a new long wharf at Bledisloe Wharf that would take cruise ships, Gray said. But once consent is granted, the build will take another 18 months.

However, the future of the entire port is up in the air.

While Auckland’s fix-it mayor, Wayne Brown, said ferry disruptions from cruise ship activity “is not tolerable in a modern city”, he’s tying solutions to the issue to a push for bigger changes at the port.

Brown’s proposal to either stick with the current port operator or lease its operations to a private operator will go out to Aucklanders for consultation at the end of February.

In the meantime, Auckland Transport’s group manager public transport operations, Rachel Cara, said the agency is working to improve how it communicates with customers ahead of time when there are likely to be delays or cancellations.

As for Mojel, having switched to public transport after he came to a “crisis point” with getting to work on time by driving, he’s not keen to return to his car. He now keeps the cruise ship schedule saved on his phone for easy reference.