Future Cairns: Why $360m CUF is keystone to Cairns’ future

In 2014 a plan was drawn up to make Cairns a powerhouse hub of marine industry by becoming a one-stop-shop for navy, tourism and international maritime business. Now with $360m backing the creation of a state-of-the-art Common User Facility what's next for the mega project and how will it shape Cairns’ future?

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has visited the Cairns Marine Precinct, to promote the $360 million expansion to the industry, equally funded by the federal and state governments. Norship defence operations manager Stuart Hodgson shows Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Member for Cairns Michael Healy Norship defence operations manager Stuart Hodgson and Austral General Manager for Queensland Phil Growden inspect work being undertaken on Australian Defence Force vessels. Picture: Brendan Radke

In 2014 a plan was drawn up to make Cairns a powerhouse hub of marine industry by becoming a one-stop-shop for navy, tourism and international maritime business.

Now ten years later a total of $360m has been set aside for the creation of a new Common User Facility, which will allow more boats to come out of the water at once and increase the lifting capacity of the port to 5000 tonnes.

The facility was the brainchild of Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch, Advance Cairns’ Trent Twomey, and BSE Maritime Solutions managing director Justin Parer, who decided that if Cairns wasn’t going to build ships, it was going to become the hub of maintaining them.

The CUF facility is being jointly funded in a 50/50 split between the Federal and State governments with early stages of master planning and design work currently underway.

Ports North CEO Richard Stevenson said Ports North had delivered the CMP early works package already, building and delivering two new wharves in Smith’s Creek.

“They are up and running and serviceable now with vessels operating on them now,” he said.

“We have built them for primarily water maintenance, but they are used by the fishing fleet and Sea Swift as well at the moment.

“They have increased the capacity and capability for in water maintenance in the port already.”

Richard Stevenson has been named as the new CEO of Ports North, after 10 years with the organisation. He begins his tenure on August 14. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Stevenson said that while there was a lot of front end work to the CUF project, things are underway behind the scenes.

“The CUF is still under the direction of the Department of State Development and Infrastructure,” he said.

“There is obviously a lot of front end work that goes into a project like this with the concept and design work before any dirt gets pushed around.

“A lot of this activity happens behind the scenes and can take a couple years, but inevitably when the construction phase begins we are actually towards the end of the overall project because all this work has been done in advance.

“It's a challenge to deliver no doubt about it but everyone is excited to see the first bit of earth moved.”

Mr Stevenson said the CUF will be a complete game changer for the port and its partners.

“That is our biggest opportunity moving forward,” he said.

“The opportunities will spread much further than just the strategic port land we hold, it will enable the whole region to tap into the opportunities the development of the marine precinct will bring.

“There will be an opportunity to grow a highly specialised and diverse workforce to support the work of the CUF.”

Mr Stevenson said Cairns’ geographic position was key to projecting its capability into the Pacific to draw naval vessels from Australia’s partners in the US, UK, and France, support and train Pacific neighbours, and tap into the huge potential of a massive commercial Pacific region fleet including superyachts.

“The CUF will demonstrate we have the capability to increase our presence in the region,” he said.

“Everything around the CUF and its surrounds is also the seed of long term growth, with these facilities only expanding once they are up and operating. drawing new clients and building even newer capabilities.”

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has visited the Cairns Marine Precinct, to promote the $360 million expansion to the industry, equally funded by the federal and state governments. Norship ISS manager Steve Howarth, Norship defence operations manager Stuart Hodgson, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Austral General Manager for Queensland Phil Growden, Gillian Shaw of Norstar and Tropical Reef Shipyard general manager Robert Downing inspect two Australian Border Force ships currently undergoing maintainence at the Marine Precinct. Picture: Brendan Radke

Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the CUF was a critical part of our marine support infrastructure, with huge potential.

“We are already starting to see the opportunities that the precinct has created,” he said.

“We have had the French and the British ships in the yards already and the US, who have previously only sent us their older stuff, is taking a lot of notice.”

Mr Entsch said being able to take on bigger vessels opened up even more doors.

“We are quickly becoming a very serious competitor for Singapore,” he said.

“We always talk about the military capacity, but we need to remember that we have the largest reef fleet in the country, we are the home of the largest coastal shipping business in the country, Sea Swift and we have the superyachts.

“With the lift we will have the ability to lift anything of any size.

“It’s going to be fantastic for our town.”

Mr Entsch said the region has no choice but to grow.

“With the work the CUF is going to attract we are going to have to grow our workforce significantly which means there are going to be a lot of opportunities for our young people.”

In a submission ahead of the 2024-25 Queensland Budget, Advance Cairns called on the Australian and Queensland state governments to expedite delivery of the Cairns marine precinct Common User Facility and commit to having an operational ship lift by 2027.

The submission highlighted the Australian government’s Defence Strategic Review’s push north — which will shape the force structure, posture and capability of the country’s defence force in the decades to come — as the reason to speed up the delivery of the CUF.

“As Australia’s most northern naval base on the eastern seaboard, HMAS Cairns plays a key strategic role in the nation’s defence capability, currently undergoing a $240m upgrade to accommodate at least four of the... Arafura-class Offshore Patrol Vessels (now cut to six total),” the submission reads.

“In addition to HMAS Cairns, the precinct is also home to the first of four strategically located Regional Maintenance Centres established under Defence’s Plan Galileo.

“While the tonnage of the fleet is expected to increase by 132% across Australia from 2010-2048, Cairns’ RMC North-East will see the largest increase of 200%.

“Fast-tracked delivery of the CUF is critical to attracting further home ported vessels, ensuring regional sovereign sustainment capability and benefit to local industry.”

The project is expected to support more than 4600 local jobs in the marine industry and related supply chains, with many new, ongoing jobs to be created in coming years.

More than 400 construction jobs will initially be created through the construction of the new wharves, road and service upgrades and common user facility, with more than 1000 jobs created through flow-on effects throughout the local economy.

Originally published as Future Cairns: Why $360m CUF is keystone to Cairns’ future