More than five years after a deemed shore-to-ship power too expensive,the NSW Port Authority will also investigate the cost of installing it at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay.
Carnival Australia senior vice-president Peter Little,left,Transport Minister David Elliott and Port Authority chief executive Philip Holliday at the White Bay Cruise Terminal on Monday.Edwina Pickles
The planned construction of a nearby at the so-called Bays Precinct,which will require high-voltage cables to be laid,has helped enable the installation of shoreline power for ships at White Bay and Glebe Island. A large part of the cost is installing power cables.
The first cruise ships since the are due to enter Sydney Harbour in May,weeks after a federal government ban on the vessels entering and leaving the country is lifted.
The port authority estimates it will cost companies about $2 million to retrofit cruise ships to handle shore power,and about $1 million for bulk carriers. Carnival Australia’s P&O cruise ships can already handle shore power.
Before the pandemic shuttered the industry,cruise ships berthed at White Bay caused great concern for nearby residents.Wolter Peeters
Transport Minister David Elliott said the first berth at White Bay to have shore power would be turned on in 2024,allowing ships with the technology to cut their diesel generators while docked.
“To put it into perspective,this $60 million infrastructure upgrade will see the equivalent of 4000 cars taken off the road in any given year,” he said.
Balmain residents have been about fumes from ships docked at White Bay since the $57 million terminal was opened in 2013.
Mr Elliott apologised to the community for it taking until this year for the way to be cleared for shoreline power,which will be derived from renewable sources.
A study into shore-to-ship power in 2017 led to the NSW government at the time,largely because of the $36 million cost of installing the technology.
Greens MP for Balmain Jamie Parker,who has long campaigned for the technology,said the facility would “flick the switch” on cruise ship pollution,and be “life-changing” for people in Rozelle and Balmain.
“Sydney has long been a dumping ground for the cruising industry’s oldest and dirtiest cruise ships,” he said.
“[The investment] has catapulted Sydney from being the laggard of the international cruising industry to being a world-leader exhibiting environmental best practice.”
However,Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne said the government should implement shore-to-ship power immediately,and not in two or three years. “This ongoing delay is not good enough,” he said.
Cruise ships have been absent from Sydney Harbour since the pandemic struck in early 2020.Dominic Lorrimer
Port Authority chief executive Philip Holliday said cruise ship companies such as Carnival,Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises had committed to retrofitting their vessels to handle shore power.
“There is an expense to them for their operations here,” he said,adding it would be the first bulk-shipping precinct in the world to have shore power.
The port authority is forecasting the number of cruise ships visiting Sydney to return to pre-pandemic levels within two to three years. However,Mr Holliday said he was optimistic that it would happen sooner as “the numbers that we are seeing are already pretty positive”.
The pandemic also put on hold state government plans for a at Yarra Bay near Port Botany.
Mr Elliott would not be drawn on his view on Yarra Bay as a location for a cruise terminal,saying it was a matter cabinet would have to deliberate on.
“If the demand is there,all governments are going to have to consider what options are available,” he said.
In November,the then-transport minister Rob Stokes said proposals for a cruise terminal at Yarra Bay remained on pause because there were “some significant environmental concerns”.
Mr Stokes has said Garden Island is the “obvious location” for a terminal if the navy one day departs the prized site in Sydney Harbour.
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