Royal Caribbean is chomping
at the bit for a piece of the
Gold Coast cruising pie, that is,
if the project ever gets off the
ground.
SPEAKING last week to CW, Royal
Caribbean’s Managing Director of Australia and
NZ operations, Gavin Smith, said that “it’s a
really exciting local investment and if it got up
it would be spectacular”.
Smith posited that the best location for the
terminal would be Sea World, saying that it’s
development would not be contingent on $100
“whatever is going to be built on that island”.
“The navigation of it will get a pretty positive
wrap and I think barring a few days a year
everybody will be able to get in there,” he
added.
Whilst he was excited for the development,
Smith did admit that there were elements
which may halt or impede its actualisation,
such as the cost of maintenance dredging.
The ongoing upkeep of the dredge, according
to Smith, would be a cost lumped on top of
the bill to dredge the channel initially (with
estimates for that work ranging from $24 to
$100 million), and would be required to keep
the dredge deep, given that the Gold Coast
wave action would continually work to fill the
hole in.
According to current thinking, this
maintenance cost would be around $6-7
million per annum.
In addition, Smith named competition
between Queensland ports for state funding as
a possible delay to the development of a Gold
Coast cruise terminal, as well as a cruise
industry which won’t provide a concrete
guarantee that ships will visit, and various
council and environmental concerns.
“So as far as the community, it’s a really good
thing,” he said.
“If it ever happens or not, I think we’re a long
way from knowing,” he added.
Joining in on the debate, Adam Armstrong,
Commercial Manager for RCI Cruises Australia
and New Zealand, told CW that “The Gold
Coast development is of great interest to the
company”.
“What we need on the east coast is more
ports where we can get big ships in, so if the
Gold Coast is going to build a big terminal
where we can get alongside without tendering
then we’ll be there.
“Just tell us when. Just build it,” he added.
MEANWHILE in other Gold Coast cruising
news, the Queensland Government is calling
for expressions of interest from the private
sector for its Broadwater Marine Project,
which will include the delivery of a cruise ship
terminal on State Government-owned land “on
The Spit or on Wave Break Island in the
Broadwater”.
“In addition to the terminal, proposals could
and super yacht facilities, retail, hospitality,
community open space, recreation facilities
and a mix of residential (types and tenure),” a
statement from the state government said.
According to the Gold Coast City Council,
recent research showed that the integrated
tourism developments have the potential to
inject $750m in additional tourism revenue
annually into the Gold Coast economy and
create more than 10,000 jobs locally by 2020.