Sydney is set to lose out on thousands of cruise arrivals and millions of dollars in revenue due to a ‘frustrating’ lack of dock capacity.
Cruise companies are foregoing Sydney port calls in favour of Melbourne and Brisbane or cruise terminals further afield in Asia Pacific.
Royal Caribbean Cruises will no longer send Voyager of the Seas and will instead stay in Singapore and China for a year-round season.
"We’ve been talking about one day Sydney will be full. That day has come," the line’s MD Adam Armstrong told the Daily Telegraph.
"Sydney will lose 65,000 guests a year from Voyager of the Seas and around $32 million in passenger spend."
"Brisbane will have a solution before Sydney does."
Carnival Australia is also picking Melbourne over Sydney due to a squeeze on port space.
"We are finding ourselves increasingly basing ships in other cities. I will keep encouraging discussion at both a state and federal level. This is the last big piece of the tourism puzzle now we have agreement on the second airport and have rebuilt the convention and exhibition centre in Sydney," said Carnival Australia executive chairman Ann Sherry.
