Strong winds divert cruise ship, tourist dollars from Chch

Tuesday, 3 December 2024

The largest cruise ship to dock in Lyttelton, Ovation of the Seas, was diverted from its schedule on Tuesday due to strong winds in Canterbury which were above Lyttelton Port Company’s wind limit. (file photo)

Thousands of tourists skipped a day’s spending in Christchurch after the region’s infamous nor’wester diverted one of the largest cruise ships due to visit the region.

Ovation of the Seas was due to dock at Lyttelton Port at 9am and leave at 7pm on Tuesday but strong nor’westerlies forecast by Metservice on the day caused a change of schedule.

Concerns for the ship's safety with forecast high winds led to the decision not to berth the Ovation of the Seas in Lyttelton, Lyttelton Port Company chief customer officer Simon Munt said. It is headed to Wellington, its next port of call.

Munt said the the 50-knot (92kmh) north westerlies forecast by MetService were above Lyttelton Port Company’s wind limit of 40 knots (74kmh) for the cruise berth.

“This is the nature of shipping, dealing with high winds and happens at all ports around the country.

“The safety of the ship, crew, passengers, our staff and Lyttelton Port infrastructure is paramount.”

Cruise ship tourists spend between $146 and $221 per day when they leave the ship, according to Christchurch NZ. (file photo)

The high temperatures and nor’westerly winds hitting Canterbury on Tuesday were due to a frontal feature on the country’s east coast, Metservice meteorologist Alec Holden said.

He said the 50kmh gusts experienced earlier in the day were forecast to rise to 60 to 70kmh in the afternoon. Those speeds were not significant, he said, but there would be some “rather strong north westerlies flying over the city, punching down on the water further out to sea”.

The cruise ship has a capacity of 4180 passengers. It left Sydney, Australia on November 28 and was scheduled to dock in Fiordland National Park, Dunedin, Lyttelton, Wellington and Picton before returning to Sydney on December 8.

It is scheduled to return to Lyttelton three more times this season.

A Christchurch NZ spokesperson said diversions were a blow to the economy as passengers spent between $146 and $221 per day when they left the ship, and often had bookings for tourist attractions.

The ship had an occupancy rate of at least 95%.

They said usually one third of the passengers stayed on board so there would have been a minimum spend of $388,443 and a maximum spend of more than $600,000.

Last season, one cruise ship didn’t berth in Lyttelton due to high winds. This season, the Diamond Princess arrived in Lyttelton a day earlier than scheduled as it could not berth in Wellington.