Another record season for Sydney is on the books for 2014/2015, with 280 calls booked and first-time visits by the Celebrity Century, Carnival Legend and MSC Orchestra.

The White Bay Cruise Terminal has completed its first year of operations, expanding available berth space.

“With two berths that, together, can cater for up to 170 cruise ship visits every year, the White Bay terminal has created much-needed additional capacity,” said John McKenna, senior manager cruise, Port Authority of NSW. With that facility open, port officials are now moving their focus to upgrading the Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT) to “more comfortably” host larger ships.

“Passengers must be processed faster, traffic management improved and more space given to trucks arriving with supplies,” said McKenna. “The upgrade will do this by increasing both the efficiency and capacity of the terminal building, giving it the ability to turn around smoothly, in a single day, ships carrying more than 4,000 passengers.”

Also underway is the construction of a 60-meter extension to the OPT wharf to upgrade berthing safety for ships.