Marina St Vincent at Wirrina Cove seeks new manager

It’s littered with abandoned vehicles, shipping containers and building supplies – now someone is needed to clean up a troubled marina.

The Marina St Vincent, Wirrina Cove, needs a new manager.

More than a year after turfing out the embattled operator of the Wirrina Cove Marina, the State Government is on the hunt for a new manager of the troubled facility.

The Infrastructure and Transport Department has issued a tender for management of the Fleurieu Peninsula marina, which was at the centre of lengthy legal battles involving its previous management.

The department wants a marina manager for an initial 12 months – with a potential year extension.

The successful applicant’s obligations include:

RESTORING retail fuel supply;

REINSTATING a boat launch fee and keeping track of bookings for each berth;

MAINTAINING security of all property, records, cash, keys, equipment and structures and;

IMPROVING the “overall amenity” of the marina.

The department secured a Supreme Court order last March to punt the previous operator New Wave Australia – and its director Stephen Marks – over its failure to pay dredging bills in breach of the headlease.

The company was also the subject of a class action by berthowners who unsuccessfully sued for damages after the District Court ruled the company had wrongly used marina funds to prop up related companies.

An abandoned and unregistered truck at the Wirrina Marina St Vincent. Picture: Renato Castello

Locked shipping containers at the marina. Pictures: Renato Castello

Mr Marks liquidated the company last August, one business day before a damages ruling effectively blocking boaties’ attempt for compensation.

Yankalilla Council last year rejected an interim management offer for the 210-berth marina, arguing it would have a “significant impact” on council resources.

The marina’s site office has been closed since NWA moved out leaving behind two locked shipping containers, rusting vehicles, building supplies and a hovercraft.

The contents of the containers is unknown.

Angry berthowners, representing 75 investors involved in the class action, have sought an investigation into the department’s oversight of the marina, claiming the government had left them open to financial abuse.

The court found Mr Marks personally liable for $207,000 in court fees.

The government has employed security guards to monitor the marina but they have no site office and spend their days sitting in their cars.