How Broome is showing the way to bring more cruise ships to Australia

• Broome has inaugurated a new floating port.
• This new port will mean that cruise ships can dock at any time, not only when the tide allows for it.
• The hope is that this new port can encourage more ships to visit Australia.

Western Australian cruise has been reaping the benefits of its carefully coordinated efforts to promote the cruise industry and it continues to make progress, today revealing a new floating port in Broome.

The new floating port is set to be a huge boost for the Broome local economy in general, and its facilitating of cruise ship arrivals will be a significant part of that.

Until now, Broome has been a tide-dependent port, due to its unusually large tidal ranges, where low tide and high tide can change water depth by up to 10 metres. This means ships of all kinds are commonly delayed when arriving to the coastal town, as if the tide is too low they aren’t able to enter the port.

Now, the new port facilities can accomodate for this, a floating deck which will be connected to the port land and port infrastructure which allow ships to arrive at any hour, regardless of tidal activity.

While this work was done to support all kinds of vessels, there’s no doubting it will have a significant impact for the cruise industry, making scheduling easier and making Broome a more attractive and less problematic port to visit for cruise ships.

The new port can take ships up to 348 metres, the exact size of Ovation, Quantum and Anthem of the Seas, the largest cruise ships to sail in Australia.

Western Australia is also in the midst of attempting to restore older regulations that allowed customs agents to enter onto ships that are arriving via the north towards Western Australia. This meant that customs processing could be performed onboard instead of in port, where it would have to instead be performed in Perth due to a lack of suitable facilities and infrastructure in Broome.

There will be hopes the upgrades to Broome part will be performed in cohesion with a plan to either build processing infrastructure and negotiate with the Australian Border Force to once again find a way that ports like Broome can be the first port of call for ships entering Australia.

Joel Katz, managing director of CLIA is hoping for exactly this. He believes that the new port is a crucial part of CLIA’s plan to bring back the possibility of the northern ports of WA being the first ports of call in Australia for international cruise itineraries.

The new wharf’s opening also supports our industry’s vision for first-point-of-entry status for Broome, which would mean international ships could arrive directly without having to stop in Darwin or Fremantle.

“CLIA | Cruise Lines International Association and our cruise lines are working together with the Australian Cruise Association, the port, the WA Government and Federal agencies to achieve this status, which would open up new possibilities for cruise itineraries.

“By working together across all areas of government and industry, we have the potential to unlock greater economic opportunities, visitation and employment for communities throughout WA, and around Australia.”

Western Australia’s current labour government is committed to continuing cruise growth, with a special focus on the Port of Broome.

The government’s press release reads: “The Cook Government is committed to further enhancing the Port of Broome, with a $500,000 investment in business case development in support of passenger terminal facilities to attract more cruise vessels to the region.”

If this vision can be realised, it can restore the possibility of itineraries that we used see, which mostly involve ships sailing down from Asia into the north of WA. This drives much needed tourist dollars to towns like Broome, Exmouth and even smaller coastal communities such as Geraldton, who have been greatly damaged by the new restrictions.

This makes cruise lines more incentivised to not only visit Australia in the first place, but also visit more ports once they arrive.

This marks another initiative by the Western Australian government to work with the cruise industry in order to promote local industries and bring more tourists to its coastline.

Broome is also working on a new cruise lounge at its airport. The lounge will be dedicated especially for cruisers to create a more seamless transition from their cruise to their flight.