Cruise line skips Brisbane

[DennisN]

You could see this coming a mile off.

 

June 25, 2008 10:28am

Article from: AAP

 

 

A CRUISE liner company will take Brisbane off its schedule next year after a visit during which passengers were forced to wade through muddy temporary facilities.

 

Cunard has announced it has dropped Brisbane from its 2009 schedule, instead opting to dock at Cairns.

The decision followed a visit by the superliner Queen Victoria in February which was forced to dock at the Fisherman Islands container terminal because it could not fit under the Gateway Bridge to dock at Brisbane's Portside cruise ship terminal.

Passengers were forced to wade through mud to reach buses to ferry them to the CBD.

Chief executive Ann Sherry said the company had told the Queensland Government a cruise ship facility was needed on the bay side of the Gateway Bridge.

"The ship's not coming in 2009 was absolutely reinforced by what happened in February,'' Ms Sherry said to ABC Radio.

"In fact it's happened before and so it was really already under discussion about whether we'd come to Brisbane and the experience in February this year reinforced that we would skip Brisbane in 09.''

She said the Government had indicated it was prepared to look at available land with a view to consider its use as a cruise ship facility.

A report released in May by Access Economics, and commissioned by Cunard owner Carnival Australia, found international cruise liners could opt to base themselves in Asian ports if infrastructure bottlenecks at Australian ports were not cleared.

It was particularly critical of infrastructure bottlenecks in Sydney and Brisbane that will exclude larger ships using the cities altogether in coming years.

The cruise ship industry contributed $734 million to the national economy last year.

 

 

 

They want the business here, yet won't provide the infrastructure the International traveller demands.

[arxcards]

Hmmm, not good.

 

The facilities must have been ordinary to change from a dock in Brisbane to tenders at Yorkeys.

[DennisN]

Hmmm, not good.

 

The facilities must have been ordinary to change from a dock in Brisbane to tenders at Yorkeys.

 

Yeah, I was a bit amused at the term "opting to dock in Cairns" :p

 

I was trying to create a mental picture of the good Queen Vic trying to charge in over the mudflats past Trinity Wharf. :D

[arxcards]

Yeah, I was a bit amused at the term "opting to dock in Cairns" :p

 

I was trying to create a mental picture of the good Queen Vic trying to charge in over the mudflats past Trinity Wharf. :D

 

lol - Hope they don't get muddy feet (or a muddy keel)

[Guest012]

I would rather have water to drink, hospitals that are able to heal and roads that can cope than a Cruise Terminal....maybe they should have gone with the original idea of building one that could cope at Southport....but then again its the Qld way to get it wrong....cheers shiona

[brissie gal]

From my memory there have been only 2 ships that had to dock at fishermans island container/grain wharf in the last year. The QV and Shapphire Princess. The sun princess size make it no problems. BUT I suppose it could be a case of build it and they will come.

[surfoz]

Sorry Ann but no big deal, we are not going to raise the height of the Gateway Bridge so yeah Cairns sounds a better option for you.

[shieldsboy]

Sorry, Brissie Gal,

 

But the Aurora also had to stop at Fishermans Island because the Pacific Sun was at the new terminal.

 

We were on board and it certainly wasn't an ideal location but, as one of the passengers on board said "I feel I have sailed round the world visiting all the container terminals".

 

We got off the Aurora in Singapore and that was also a container terminal.

 

To be fair, the shipping line did all they could to transport the passengers to the city in both Brisbane and Singapore.

 

Don