On Wednesday 5th November Viking decided to cancel the visit to Newcastle, Australia, by the Viking Orion cruise ship. This cancellation was made due to the planned anti-coal protest by the climate activist group, Rising Tide.
Keely Johnson of ABC News Newcastle, Australia reported: “A Hunter Valley businessman is calling on climate activist group Rising Tide to compensate his business after a second cruise ship cancelled its visit to Newcastle due to safety concerns over an anti-coal protest in the harbour later this month.
The Viking Orion cruise liner, which was due to arrive on December 1, will not dock in the harbour because of the “possibility that the planned activities at the Port of Newcastle could impact scheduled shore excursion programs and guests’ experience”.
Rising Tide has planned its annual People’s Blockade event to run over five days in November, but has specified the blockade would only occur on November 29 and 30 and that it would only target coal ships.
Despite this, Viking Cruises said, “out of an abundance of caution”, it decided to cancel its visit.
Close to 1,000 guests will spend an extra day exploring Sydney instead.
Newcastle Tourism Industry Group’s cruise coordinator, Stewart Ford, says dozens of Lower Hunter businesses will be affected.
“It’s a loss of about $750,000 collectively to the regional area,” he said.”.
