Lack of maps hindering cruise ship access in the Pacific

Transcript

The Chief Executive of Carnival Australia says the lack of hydrography maps for much of the Pacific rules out many potential destinations for cruise liners.

Ann Sherry who has been in Vanuatu speaking to industry partners says there is huge potential for growth in the region with more than 1 million Australians expected to be cruising the Pacific within the next five years.

Ms Sherry told Koroi Hawkins new destinations are constantly being sought for cruise liners but with as little as 10 percent of the region properly mapped, many places cannot even be considered.

ANN SHERRY: At the moment there's 400,000 cruise visitors a year coming to, out into the Pacific. We think that will be a million passengers a year within between five and 10 years depending on the pace of growth and so that opportunity is very significant. We have just done an economic impact study here in Vanuatu and the contribution of cruise shipping is equivalent to 10 percent of the export earnings of Vanuatu and we employ directly and indirectly about 3,500 people.

KOROI HAWKINS: How do they get onto your boats or where do they come in as an asset to you?

AS: We have got a manning agent that we contracted to locally. So they are responsible for identifying, finding and then doing some initial training with potential crew and then we train them up on the ship. So that is done locally and the group we are talking to today are people who are involved in that sort of work here in Vanuatu. So at the moment interestingly because a number of hotels here are closed here after Cyclone Pam, we have actually taken on about another 100 Ni-Van crew who in fact were trained and working in hotels who found themselves out of work.  

KH: On that note other Pacific or many Pacific Islands aren't as exposed or aren't benefiting as much from the cruise shipping industry. What needs to be in place in other Pacific countries for them to be attractive destinations for cruise ships?

AS: Well infrastructure is the most important thing so if there is nowhere for the ships to go then we obviously can't go and hand in hand with that is hydrography. So much of the Pacific is still not well mapped, so hydrography is essentially the mapping of the sea floor. And now by international regulation all ships can only go to destinations where there is hydrography and then electronic maps and so we have been again talking to the Vanuatu government today as an example but it is true for the whole Pacific. The focus on hydrography has been pretty low. And we have been explaining today that unless there are good maps we cannot come because we cannot put ships and passengers at risk of running aground or finding sand-banks that perhaps didn't exist 100 years ago when the last map was done. But we need all that in place now for further destinations to be opened up but we are actively looking for new destinations and we are actively working with Pacific governments not just Vanuatu. The Solomons and New Caledonia and other parts of the Pacific, Fiji, looking at potential new destinations.