Cruise tourism takes a beating with loss of ‘Superstar Libra’

GEORGE TOWN: Cruise tourism here took a beating when Superstar Libra left Swettenham Pier, said Penang Port Sdn Bhd chief executive officer V. Sasedharan.

“She left in the first quarter and returned last September but swit­ch­ed to a triple home port deploy­­ment.

“That is how much impact a cruise ship has on passenger movements when it homeported in Pe­nang,” he said, explaining the reason for the sharp fall in cruise passenger arrivals this year.

“We lost six to seven months of cruise passengers without that ship.

“Cruise tourism is not something you can plan on the fly.

“The schedules are estimated about a year ahead so we could not fill the sudden vacuum.”

Penang was the home port of Superstar Libra – a 10-deck cruise ship – from 2010 to July 2015 when it left to make Xiamen, China, its home.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was the chief minister then, had called on the Transport Ministry to woo the ship back to Penang be­­cause tourism players here feared a drastic drop in revenue without it.

Superstar Libra made Penang its homeport again in September 2016 and a year later, changed to a triple homeport deployment, using Port Klang and Phuket as well.

She was retired from active duty in June and her trips to Penang is taken over by Superstar Gemini.

Both ships are owned by Star Cruises.

Sasedharan said Penang would have to “bite the bullet” for a few months while the berth in Swetten­ham Pier is being extended.

“We are ready to extend the berth from 498m to 700m beginning from the end of next quarter. With good weather, it should take us eight to nine months.

“It will be tough to keep receiving cruise ships while we extend the berth but this won’t last long,” he said.