Tiny Broome – and US ports – are showing Sydney how to attract the cruise industry

• The WA Government this week talked up $16 million of investment to attract cruising.
• It came as USA ports in Florida and Texas are seeing massive growth and striking deals with cruise lines.
• Meanwhile, in Sydney the interminable search for a second terminal goes on…

The WA Government this week pledged $500,000 to plan for a future Passenger Cruise Terminal at Broome Port. It has already committed $6 million towards infrastructure upgrades at the Port of Broome $15.5 million commitment to upgrade Wyndham and Derby ports to boost the Kimberley’s capacity.

Western Australia is hoping to attract between 75 and 149 additional cruise ship visits to the port over the course of one season. This equates to around 22 to 44 additional cruise itineraries, which is expected to boost the economy by up to $357 million and support 1,225 jobs.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Managing Director in Australasia Joel Katz praised the step.

“Broome is on track to become a key Australian cruise gateway, and the creation of a purpose-built passenger terminal at its port will help unlock enormous tourism opportunities for Western Australia.

“CLIA and our cruise lines have been championing Broome as an international gateway for some time, working closely with State and Commonwealth governments to unlock the destination’s full potential. The Western Australian Government’s commitment to a business case for a new Broome terminal is an important step towards making the port a world-class cruise destination.”

And he pointed out: “The value of cruise tourism to Western Australia grew by more than 15% in 2023-24 to reach a record $384.9 million. With close collaboration between governments, ports and destinations, tourism operators and the cruise industry, Western Australia has the ability to create an even stronger cruise economy in one of the country’s most spectacular cruise regions.”

Contrast this with Sydney, where the decades-old debate over a second cruise berth to accommodate larger ships is limping along with, so far, no resolution from a special committee set up by the Minns state government.

As the 2025/26 Australian wave season enters its final few months, there is concern that there will be a significant drop in capacity at the end of this year as lines move their ships to the Caribbean, where they don’t face capacity issues or sky high port charges.

In fact, a look at the American ports business explains why lines like Royal Caribbean, Princess and Norwegian are sending their biggest and. newest ships there.

Port Miami is finalising plans to have space for a total of 12 cruise berths. Just three hours down the road from Port Miami is Port Canaveral, which can fit six ships at once but often uses scheduling strategies to welcome about 10 ships per day.

Even then, Port Canaveral is struggling to meet cruise demands, with industry leaders calling for developments to the port to allow for more cruise capacity. 

Furthermore, American ports are driven by competition. Ports in Florida are also looking to innovate and rebuild in order to maintain their stronghold as Texas grows in influence.

Rodger Reefs, the Galveston, Texas Wharves port director told Travel Weekly US: “We’re one of those place where can we take whatever they throw at us. Whatever size ship that cruise lines have, we can accommodate that.”

Apart from the noticeable difference in attitude, Galveston Port is also an example of the successes than can occur when port’s work closely with cruise lines. 

Galveston is in the process of building its fourth cruise port, which will be ready by the end of the year, it will then be occupied by MSC Cruises. The Port has also worked closely with Norwegian Cruise Lines, which has just signed a contract to sail out of the port year-round. 

Why Sydney fell behind – and can’t keep up

Furthermore, Royal Caribbean recently opened a cruise terminal in Galveston in 2022, and has been building up its infrastructure in nearby Mexico, suggesting a long term commitment to the port. 

While United States ports engage in their “space race”, the picture looks very different in Australia. While in a seemingly positive sign, the NSW Government announced a committee dedicated to searching for a third Sydney cruise terminal last October, Sydney’s cruise constraints have been known about, and mostly ignored, for decades. 

While Port Canaveral’s CEO John Murray comments on the difficulty of operating in ports built 30 years ago, Sydney’s overseas passenger terminal finished construction 65 years ago, and the largest and most modern ships simply don’t fit.  

Furthermore, Sydney’s only other current option, White Bay, can only accommodate ships that fit under the harbour bridge, which large ships from lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess cannot do. 

This problem hasn’t exactly snuck up on Sydney. Even back in 2010, cruise ship operators warned that in the future 85% of passenger ships wouldn’t be able to fit under the harbour bridge.

A Cruise Passenger report from 2017, made clear the warnings from the industry on the millions that Sydney could stand to lose if it doesn’t seek a solution to its cruise capacity problem quickly. At this point, it was suggested Sydney’ cruise capacity was at a ‘crisis point’.

An Infrastructure Australia report from 2019 also dived deep into the problem, stating “A lack of capacity at Sydney’s cruise ship terminals will impact on the growth of the Australian tourism industry, with some cruises citing the Sydney capacity constraint as the reason for not visiting Australia in the 2018–19 season.”

The 2019 report suggested three possible strategies. 

• maximising the capacity of existing terminals by optimising scheduling, operations and pricing
• modifying existing non-passenger terminals to allow cruise ship usage
• developing new cruise terminals.

However, as has been seen, none of these strategies were able to be implemented. 

While the new committee is yet to produce any recommendations, one port has been consistently putting its hand up as a candidate to provide more cruise capacity for Sydney. 

This is Port Kembla in Wollongong, with its proposal also strongly backed by local politicians. 

While the point has been made previously that international passengers want the glitz and glamour of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge on arrival, this no longer appears to be an issue for cruise lines, with Royal Caribbean Vice President of Australia and New Zealand Gavis Smith previously stating he would move the Royal Caribbean fleet to Port Kembla “tomorrow”, if given the opportunity. 

Sydney’s stagnation in developing alternative capacity options for cruise is starkly contrasted by the rapid growth in ports across the United States.