New Cruise Ship Berth for New Zealand

A NZ$56 million ($39 million) cruise ship berth will be built at Lyttelton, New Zealand.

The Lyttelton Port Company says it will be the first custom built cruise ship facility for Christchurch and will be able to accommodate some of the largest cruise liners from around the world.

Christchurch City Council made the decision to fund the project after a business case was done to assess the public value of a cruise ship berth. Before the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, which damaged the port, 50 cruise ships a year visited, bringing in 100,000 passengers. It is hoped that the new terminal will lift this number to 120,000 passengers.

The new berth is anticipated to be ready in time for the 2019–2020 cruise season and has been designed to accommodate Oasis of the Seas. The ship is 362 meters long and carries around 5,400 people.

The cruise ship industry was worth NZ$484 million ($335 million) to the New Zealand economy in the 2015–2016 financial year. Over 254,400 passengers and almost 92,000 crew visited New Zealand during the 2015-2016 cruise season which started in August 2015 and ended in June 2016. They sailed on 35 ships that collectively visited New Zealand 138 times and made 703 port visits across the country. 

In 2016-2017, the value of the cruise industry rose to around NZ$490 million ($339 million). Ships made 791 port visits in the 2016-2017 season, an increase of 13 percent. Upwards of 280,000 cruise ship passengers are expected in the 2017-2018 season, injecting more than NZ$500 million ($346 million) into the economy.