The chief executive of Napier Port says he expects cruise ships will return to Napier later this year, just in time for the opening of the port's new 350m-long wharf.
6 Wharf is an up-to $190 million expansion to the port, which is being paid for by a listing of the port on the NZX, with Hawke's Bay Regional Council selling off 49 per cent of its share in the port in the process.
6 Wharf will accommodate larger vessels arriving in New Zealand, including Oasis-class cruise liners, as well as the increasing number of vessels coming into Napier.
The wharf is due to open in the second half of 2022 and Napier Port's schedule is already making room for expected international cruise ships.
That's despite maritime borders remaining closed to them because of the Government's Covid-19 restrictions.
The Napier Port schedule has 26 international cruise ships booked from October 12 to January 3 at this stage.
New Zealand's borders remain closed to cruise ships until further notice and if that continues, the bookings will be cancelled or postponed indefinitely.
But Napier Port is confident the Government will reopen the maritime borders to the cruise industry this year.
CEO Todd Dawson said he expected to see international borders reopen and a return of cruise ships to Napier in summer 2022/2023.
"The cruise industry is an important economic contributor to our region, and Napier Port looks forward to its safe return," Dawson said.
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said the return of cruise ships would be welcomed by many in the city as they were a part of Napier's economy, and they had a strong flow-on effect to businesses here.
"There will be necessary restrictions in place to respond to Covid, as there are with other parts of our community at the moment," Wise said.
"We do need to get back on track as an economy and as a community but we need to do it carefully and cautiously to protect the health and wellbeing of people," she added.
Public safety will be on the mind of many in Hawke's Bay, given that the last cruise ship to dock in the port was the Ruby Princess, in March 2020.
Passengers on the ship infected with Covid-19 brought the disease into the community in Hawke's Bay, with 25 people in the wider region infected.
The cruise ship, which then sailed directly to Australia as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tightened the border, started a mega-cluster once sick passengers were let off the ship in Sydney.
In Napier, a Hawke's Bay tour guide in contact with the ship was infected and unknowingly passed Covid onto an elderly relative at the Gladys Mary Rest Home, where four other residents caught it too.
A Napier Port spokeswoman said safety was the main priority and the opening of the maritime borders was dependent on the Ministry of Health agreeing on a standard protocol with Maritime New Zealand and all regional District Health Boards.
There would also be long conversations with all New Zealand ports on how the cruise industry would re-start, and what minimum health requirements would be set in place as a condition of entry, she said.
She added that 6 Wharf would not just be for cruise ships and could be a much needed boost to the Hawke's Bay economy as the region starts to make a move towards normality.