Port of Cairns cruises into record books

Published Tuesday, 21 February, 2017 at 12:00 PM

Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment
The Honourable Curtis Pitt

Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment, Curtis Pitt, has met with Shadow Trade Minister Jason Clare in Cairns ahead of Thursday’s Trade Ministers Meeting in Darwin.

“I look forward to continuing to lobby the Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo on a range of issues,” Mr Pitt said.

“Specifically I will again be raising the need for the Federal Government to review of the charter restrictions the Commonwealth places on superyachts entering Australia. This is a boom industry for Queensland but Federal Government restrictions are holding us back.

“It appears that rather than visiting Cairns, the Whitsundays or Gold Coast, foreign superyachts are instead visiting countries like New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu where there are more flexible chartering arrangements.

“Evidence shows that just one foreign superyacht can spend $2.5 million in a 12-month period, which would have considerable flow-on benefits for local tourism, hospitality and manufacturing sectors for areas right along the Queensland coast

“Cairns is already proving how much regional economies can benefit from seizing maritime opportunities, with new figures showing a record number of passengers going through the Reef Fleet terminal in January 2017.

“Some 91,070 passengers moved through the terminal beating the 2016 January figure of 87,697,” Mr Pitt said.

“The previous best was in July last year when the record hit 90,670 passengers, we’ve now officially bettered that.

“This is great news for local jobs and economic growth in the region.

“As tourism rebounds in Cairns our Port is continuing to go from strength to strength and we can call it ‘our’ Port because Labor has kept it in public hands for the people of Queensland.

“This is just the beginning, as part of a record-breaking year that will see 60 vessels arriving into Cairns throughout 2017.”

Federal Shadow Minister for Trade and Investment Jason Clare today met with the Treasurer to go over the Port Development project, which will create more than 100 construction jobs and lead to many more.

“I understand an impressive nine cruise ships will be docking at the Port of Cairns next month,” Mr Clare said.

“Growing this industry represents an exciting job opportunity which is the reason I’m here today, especially to talk about strategies to address the Far North’s unacceptably high youth unemployment.

“The Palaszczuk Government is doing its bit – investing in job generating infrastructure like Cairns Western Arterial, Cairns Southern Access Corridor, securing more flights to Cairns from Hong Kong, investing $10 million into the Cairns Innovation Centre, $15 million into the Cairns Performing Arts Centre,  and fast-tracking the Convention Centre roof upgrade.

“Compare that to Malcolm Turnbull and it’s clear that he’s too busy worrying about his own job than creating jobs for Cairns.”

Ports North Chairman Russell Beer said the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal had hosted a steady stream of cruise ships last week with the Azamara Journey, followed by Crystal Symphony, Pacific Princess and Albatross.

“What great cruise ship diversity we are seeing here in Cairns,” Mr Beer said.

“We not only have two newcomers this month but on the following Wednesday 22 February we note the grand Legend of the Seas will be making her final visit to Cairns. She is one of the largest cruise ships to enter the Port and has been a welcome sight for a number of years.

“As we said last year, 2017 was going to be a big year for the Port of Cairns with six arrivals through January, seven arrivals this month and a whopping nine arrivals coming into Port next month in March.”

The next cruise ship into Cairns will be the 2000-guest Legend of the Seas arriving at 1300hrs on Wednesday and departing the following day at 1500hrs.

 

Contact:  0447 316 432