31 JAN: A change in operations at Sydney’s Garden Island dockyard could lead to a major breakthrough for the cruise industry. Defence contractor Thales Australia will move its headquarters from the site to elsewhere in Sydney when its lease expires next year, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, saying NSW deputy Premier Andrew Stoner will announce the development at a maritime expo today.

The Herald says the Thales departure will potentially free up space for cruise ships - a development which would be welcomed by cruise operators.

Carnival Australia has campaigned strongly for greater access to Navy-controlled Garden Island as a facility for the growing number of liners too big to pass under the harbour bridge to berths at points in the western harbour.

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 has used the Navy facility on at least two occasions.

In a submission to a review currently being conducted by the Defence Department, the NSW government has also pushed for greater cruise ship access to Garden Island.

Meantime, the economic value of cruising has been underlined in a new report, which estimates the turnover of the NSW cruise industry will more than triple from $400 million in 2010-11 to almost $1.3 billion by 2020.

And the added value of the industry will rise from $350 million to more than $1.1 billion over the same period.

Commissioned by Carnival Australia, the Deloitte Access Economics report predicts average annual expenditure growth of almost 15% until 2020 for the industry in NSW.