Pollution from White Bay cruise ship terminal in the public spotlight again

By ROBBIE MASON

Two local councillors are bringing the attention of the Inner West Council to cruise ship noise, vibrations and pollution at White Bay. The ongoing issue has caused distress and illness for local residents.

Indepedent Councillor John Stamolis and Greens Councillor/Balmain MP Kobi Shetty have submitted a Notice of Motion for the Inner West Council meeting next Tuesday. They are asking Inner West Council to seek clarification from the Minister for Transport on when shore-to-ship power will be operational at White Bay Wharf 5 – it’s currently being installed – and whether it will be mandatory for cruise ships to use. The councillors also want the state government to address fuel quality regulation and noise from cruise liners.

Cr Shetty is concerned that residents on the Balmain peninsular will face “ongoing health impacts over the next decades”

“I think people in Balmain are comfortable that they live next to a working harbour. The cargo ships aren’t particularly problematic in terms of air pollution. But these cruise ships are massive hotels pumping out so much pollution.”

“They [local residents] get absolutely bombarded with diesel smoke every time a ship is docked there,” she continued.

According to Cr Stamolis, the pair are “signalling this as a priority issue in this seat”.

Cruise ships must keep their engines running while berthed at the White Bay Cruise Terminal because it lacks a completed on-shore power source.

Former NSW Greens MP Jamie Parker secured a $60 million investment in shore-to-ship power for White Bay and Glebe Island last year. Once up and running, the new power supply will reduce fumes in the area.

In 2015, a NSW parliamentary inquiry found that moving the cruise ship terminal previously at Barangaroo to White Bay in 2014 was a serious misstep plagued by hundreds of complaints from residents.

Cr Stamolis told City Hub that alarmed locals have emailed his office and recently aired concerns online in the Facebook group Stop Cruise Ship Pollution.

In one piece of correspondence, a representative of the community action group Stop Cruise Ship Pollution wrote, “allowing such pollution to cover a residential environment must be unique in Australia. Incredibly, the funnel stacks from these Cruise Ships are within 150 metres of some local schools.”

“It is important to note that the wharf closest to the majority of higher density residential developments, two schools and Balmain Hospital is White Bay 4, which is frequently used by cruise ships as well as other working boats,” they continued.

One post on the community’s Facebook group from March this year reads: “All the cancerous poisons that you can see being pumped into the air 100m from people’s family-filled homes must come down somewhere In our homes.  In our lungs. In our children’s and grandparents [sic] lungs.”

“It’s not just a local story. Those poisons have turned up 100 kms from the source where cruise ships are berthed…”

Cr Stamolis expressed shock that a cruise ship terminal was located so close to a residential zone in the first place.

“You wouldn’t see it today,” he said, “and you wouldn’t see it continue to operate for ten years in another modern developed country.”

“You tap into international reports from a variety of locations now and you will see that cruise shipping is being stopped or scaled down dramatically,” he said.

Last month, Amerstam’s council banned leisure liners from the city’s centre to curb tourist numbers and pollution.

A report published by the European Federation for Transport and Environment in June this year revealed that Europe’s 218 cruise liners emitted more sulphur dioxide than 1 billion cars in 2022, despite the introduction of a sulphur cap by the UN. This figure was 4.4 times more than the amount of sulphur dioxide produced by the continent’s entire car fleet.

Both Cr Stamolis and Cr Shetty declared that Sydney is lagging behind international standards when it comes to shore-to-ship power and federal fuel standards. While many countries have banned the burning of highly-polluting bunker fuels in their territorial waters, Australia has no such regulations in place.

Cr Shetty said, “Australia is becoming this graveyard of crappy old vehicles – be it old petrol cars or crappy old ships that use bunker fuel”

“We really need to improve emissions standards… It’s not good enough.”

Cr Shetty said that the move of the cruise ship terminal to White Bay was “sold as some kind of compensation” but local businesses in the Balmain peninsula have reaped few benefits due to the layout of the terminal and the inadequacy of public transport in the area, which makes the CBD the obvious choice for cruise liner visitors.