Cairns Trinity Inlet dredging benefits could be propelled with cruise ship home porting
More than just the local tourism industry should be benefiting from the $127m Trinity Inlet dredging, and with this renewed plan, more businesses will be able to cash in.
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WHILE the city is yet to realise the full estimated $850m economic benefit from the 2019 Cairns Shipping Development Project, the region’s leaders are already eyeballing plans to add value to the expansion.
At a cost of $127m, six wharves were upgraded and about 800,000 cubic metres of dredge spoil was removed from July 2019 to widen and deepen the Trinity Inlet channel and allow larger vessels including cruise ships up to 300m in length to dock at the city’s wharf.
The excavation was supposed to help launch a “tourism bonanza” in the Far North and in February 2020, the first vista class cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth, managed to squeeze in before the benefits of the dredging were suppressed by the global pandemic. However, by the end of 2022, Cairns will have welcomed 20 visits from ships over 290m in length.
Cairns MP Michael Healy said despite the cruise industry shutting for about two years, the city was immediately reaping the benefits of the $127m project.
“The key thing here is we are now on the radar of vessels that wouldn’t traditionally look at Cairns,” he said.
“And all this eventually working our way towards getting a vessel home porting here.”
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch questioned the return on the investment for the $127m outlay and said attracting a vessel to port at Cairns was “the whole purpose of that investment.”
“P & O ruled it out for 2022, but I’m hoping to get them back for 2023,” he said.
“I have had the opportunity to meet with some senior people there, and I will certainly be having further discussions and encouraging them to port here in Cairns.
But at the moment we just need to make sure we stay operational and they stay operational and there’s no kneejerk reaction (to the latest Covid wave).”
Mr Entsch said the benefits of a cruise ship porting at Cairns would mean a “massive” amount of fresh produce supplied, as well as local maintenance contracts.
TTNQ chief executive Mark Olsen said while each cruise passenger was estimated to spend about $230 per day with the current dynamic, home porting would significantly boost visitor spending.
“Home porting is highly desirable for Cairns as it dramatically increases the economic impact with passengers flying in and out of the city to meet the ship and potentially spending more time in the region.”
Advance Cairns executive chairman Nick Trompf said “one of the side benefits” of the dredging was allowing larger naval vessels to enter the marine precinct which he said was “raised in discussions with defence.”
“Defence in its own right is important, but it’s the supply chain that’s the most important in terms of economic benefit and job creation.
“And that’s why the state and federal governments have pledged $300m to build a common user facility at our port, that’s going to be highly complementary to the dredging.”
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Originally published as Cairns Trinity Inlet dredging benefits could be propelled with cruise ship home porting
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