Viking cancelled two calls to the Australian port of Newcastle due to safety concerns over an anti-coal protest.

According to a local source, climate activist group Rising Tides is planning to close the port’s navigational channel as part of an annual protest.

Named “People’s Blockade,” the event will take place over a two-day timeframe starting on Nov. 29, 2025.

While the blockade is aimed at coal ships, Viking cancelled a visit to Newcastle that was planned to take place onboard the Viking Orion on Dec. 1, 2025.

ABC News Australia reported that the company decided not to go ahead with the call “out of an abundance of caution.”

Viking stated that there is a “possibility that the planned activities at the Port of Newcastle could impact scheduled shore excursion programs and guests’ experience,” the local news source reported.

Instead of sailing to Newcastle, the Viking Orion will now spend an extra day docked at the port of Sydney.

ABC News Australia noted that the cancellation marks the second time a Viking visit to the port has been cancelled due to protests.

According to the website, local businessmen are calling for Rising Tides to compensate for the financial losses from the missed calls.

Newcastle Tourism Industry Group’s cruise coordinator, Stewart Ford, told the source that the region collectively lost about 750,000 Australian dollars due to the cancellations.

“When they are overseas tourists, they generate huge amounts of income into small tourism businesses in the Lower Hunter,” a business owner named Trevor Richards said.

“I am seeking compensation for the demonstrable financial losses my business will suffer as a direct result of the cancelled cruise ship visits linked to your planned blockade,” he added.

A spokesperson for the activist group told ABC News that the blockade was aimed at protesting the coal industry.

“Rising Tide has made constant, public assurances that we will never block non-coal shipping, particularly not cruise liners,” he explained.

“It is simply not in our politics or our values, or our interests or our strategy to disrupt a cruise liner.”