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Gold Coast plan may threaten Brisbane cruise ship terminal
March 10, 2005

There are claims a proposed cruise ship terminal on the Gold Coast could put a new $350 million facility at Hamilton on the Brisbane River out of business.

It comes a day after the 300-metre Sapphire Princess was forced to dock among container wharves at the Port of Brisbane because it could not fit under the Gateway Bridge.

The Premier has told Parliament a new study has found the world's largest cruise liners could safely navigate the Gold Coast Seaway.

But the Gold Coast's own Marine Industry Association says it is not viable to have two terminals within 100 kilometres of each other.

President Charles Dickson says the Brisbane facility will suffer most.

"Brisbane has about as much appeal to a cruise ship operator as Baghdad does to a backpacker," he said.

"It takes a full day out of a ship's sailing schedule just to enter and leave Brisbane and that is a very costly exercise for the cruise ship operators.

"So really if the Gold Coast gets a cruise ship terminal then Brisbane can wave goodbye to its cruise ship passengers."

ABC News Online

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What I suspected all along.

Check these other threads for more details:

Sapphire Princess too big for Brisbane

Brisbane: Cruise Terminal one year away...

Gold Coast cruise terminal simulation

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"What The Bulletin thinks
11Mar05

Ship-shape for cruising to the Coast

BUILDING a case for the establishment of a cruise ship terminal on the Gold Coast is being made easy by the dreadful facilities greeting passengers of luxury liners in Brisbane.

The visit by the Sapphire Princess to Brisbane this week ended in embarrassment as the 116,000-tonne ship docked in an untidy, foul-smelling area boasting concrete silos, a sawmill, a sewage outlet and shipping containers. The liner couldn't go further upstream to better facilities because the Gateway Bridge blocked its way.

The shame of this visit brings new urgency to the argument for building a cruise ship terminal at The Spit.

Why the rush?

Two reasons: Cruise holidays constitute the fastest growing element of Australian tourism, and cruise ship companies have come to favour Australia and the Pacific islands because of their safety.

There exists a window of opportunity for places such as the Gold Coast to grab new tourism business right now. If we don't act within the next couple of years, we will literally miss the boat.

The cruise ship industry won't say as much, but the new world of terrorist threats especially in the northern hemisphere means that fly-cruise tourism for American and European clients in our part of the world suddenly has become big business.

Australia quite rightly is perceived to be one of the safest places on earth, so it makes sense for tourists to fly to an Asian port such as Singapore or to Australia and connect with ships that ply the eastern seaboard or island nations such as Vanuatu or New Caledonia.

As well, ship captains prefer to spend a couple of days in each port of call (rather than the 11 hours the Sapphire Princess stayed in Brisbane) and are therefore looking for places equipped to deal with thousands of tourists.

The Gold Coast and cruise ship tourism would be a perfect fit. All we need is the purpose-built facilities and we're in business.

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In the meantime, we have to be content to watch millions of dollars of tourism potential sail by on its way to the poorly-equipped Port of Brisbane. What a waste.

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bmajor, thanks for this editorial comment from the Gold Coast.

If the Gold Coast is serious about a cruise terminal I think they will need to secure direct flights from North America and improve their international airport for the increased passenger traffic flow (and be ready to accommodate the new Airbus A380).

Here is a diagram showing current international flights into the Gold Coast.

and a map showing the airport in respect to Surfers Paradise (which is the centre of the Gold Coast) and the driving times.

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Cheers

[ 03-11-2005: Message edited by: bulbousbow ]

BUT.........

have you been there recently?

Seen the traffic?

Coolangata to Broadbeach,
last time I was there took 4 hours.

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"It takes a full day out of a ship's sailing schedule just to enter and leave Brisbane and that is a very costly exercise for the cruise ship operators.”

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Not quite sure if it takes a whole day to sail into and out of Brisbane. Maybe someone can enlighten us.

Here is a diagram of the channel that takes ships from the open sea to the Brisbane River (starting at Fisherman Islands). The proposed cruise terminal will be built at Hamilton.

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but to get into Brisbane the ships have to enter around Caloundra and then follow the channel..

Have to say, I was aboard P&O's Aurora in Feb 2004, and was gobsmacked at the facilities (or to be more truthful - lack of them )

Took absolutely forever to reach the 'dock' in Brisbane somewhere upriver, and it was a mild 38 degrees Celcius! It was extremely uncomfortable for both debarking (and I suppose embarking) passengers and customs officials. It was no better than an inglorious tin shed in extreme heat.

Despite the weather, it was not a particularly pleasant arrival for those leaving the ship in Brisbane, who had had Sydney as the prior port of call. It took almost an hour to reach Brisbane city proper from there and so the need for a new terminal is a great idea.

Personally, I would prefer the Gold Coast area, but that IS a personal preference - a lot of passengers leaving the ship in Brisbane were going to the Gold Coast anyway for the 'fun in the sun' experience!

My opinion is only as a 'local' - and I also doubt if any ship as big as Sapphire Princess could dock in either area?