Cruise ships

1. Contact the ship before the vessel gets to the harbour and discuss weather conditions prior to determining if they are within set operating parameters. If so, grant permission to enter and confirm which anchorage site is approved for use
2. Meet the agent at the launch and discusses any requirements or issues.
3. Update the vessel on conditions once the vessel is in the harbour and enforce speed and wake requirements.
4. Discuss tender operations, which marine VHF radio working channel they will use, and which side of the wharf pontoon to use, with vessel.
5. Monitor the tenders and other vessels on the wharf during the day, noting movements of all vessels. Ensure all vessels allow fair use of the wharf.
6. Maintain communications with the ship as necessary and resolve any potential issues or concerns.
7. Grants permission for the vessel to leave if conditions are within operational parameters. 

Each cruise ship operator (via their shipping agent) requests access to wharf and harbour facilities up to 18 months in advance. For Akaroa, this involves:

1. Requesting access to Akaroa Harbour from the Harbourmaster’s Office. This is only declined if the Harbourmaster’s Office has navigation safety concerns.
2. Requesting access to the Akaroa wharf from Christchurch City Council. This is declined if the capacity of the wharf is exceeded.

On extremely rare occasions, cruise ship visits have been declined due to wharf access availability.

Cruise ship companies arrange their schedules independently. Each ship has its own itinerary, and these will sometimes double up.

Multi-ship visits to the harbour on the same day may involve a variety of different-sized vessels and are rare in the context of the wider season.

The Harbourmaster’s Office is responsible for ensuring the safety of navigation.

To ensure safe navigation the Harbourmaster’s Office has a strict set of operating criteria for all ships more than 40m in length.

In addition, all vessels are tracked and recorded remotely as well as by staff on site. Lead lights are provided to guide a ship to the entrance of the harbour. A rigorous safety management system ensures all procedures and requirements are complied with.

Christchurch City Council is responsible for the Akaroa wharf, the public toilet and local parks, rubbish removal, issuing temporary traffic management plans (required when activities vary the normal operations on a road), and managing commercial operators on Council land and facilities.

Christchurch City Council owns and operates the Akaroa wharf. All vessels can still access the wharf during cruise ship visits. They cannot obstruct its use i.e. tie up and wander into town, but they can come alongside to offload or load stores and passengers. All vessel masters should work together to ensure a fair use of the facility for all.

The Harbourmaster’s Office staff member serves a dual role on cruise ship days: Monitoring navigation safety (under a warrant issued by Environment Canterbury under the Maritime Transport Act 1994); and monitoring access to/from the wharf by vessels (under a warrant issued by Christchurch City Council for their Marine, River and Lake Facilities Bylaw 2017).

There’s a general expectation that once the Lyttelton Port has a cruise berth, the number of cruise ships going to Akaroa will decrease.