Why is Portside Cruise Terminal ceasing activities?

[MMDown Under]

Three upmarket small ship cruiselines (Oceania Regatta, Seven Seas and  Viking) have advised their passengers that they have cancelled their planned visits to Brisbane, because Portside Cruise Terminal at Hamilton is ceasing activities.

Why, when there is obvious demand for a small ship cruise terminal in Brisbane?  Viking's ocean fleet consists of ten ships (930 passengers) and they are still building.  Brisbane can't afford to turn away ships of this calibre.  And there are others. I noticed Azamara called at Cairns, passing through en route to SEAsia.

Portside was purpose built as a cruise ship terminal.  It has shops to browse, small supermarket, cafes and a cinema.  It is close to accommodation and is walking distance to the Council ferry in to the city. 

The Government has questions to answer on the proposed closing of Portside Cruise Terminal to small shipping. 

 

[JeffroK]

I thought a much larger state of the art terminal was being built to enable them to handle the much larger ships in service. While I understand this is build by Carnival, I believe all ships can use it. Maintaining another terminal for small ships only would be a waste of your tax dollars

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, JeffroK said:

I thought a much larger state of the art terminal was being built to enable them to handle the much larger ships in service. While I understand this is build by Carnival, I believe all ships can use it. Maintaining another terminal for small ships only would be a waste of your tax dollars

Brisbane will be the looser if the small ships choose to cruise elsewhere, which they have done. 

[SinbadThePorter]

19 hours ago, JeffroK said:

While I understand this is build by Carnival

 

The BICT was built by the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL). This is a private company that operates a 99 year lease on all port facilities in Brisbane. It is part owned by Canadian, Abu Dhabi, QIC and IFM Investors.

 

Carnival Corp made guarantees to PBPL in terms of useage of the BICT for the next 15 years. They get priority berthing rights for up to 4 times a week. This enabled PBPL to get financial backing for the BICT and to build the terminal.

 

There could be several reasons for Portside shutting down. The residents of Portside have complained about cruise ship docking for years. PBPL doesn't want to maintain a port that would get very little use. PBPL wants to maximise usage of the BICT.

 

We don't know why the small cruise lines have skipped Brisbane. It may be a matter of convenience, or of cost. In either case I suspect they will get over their misgivings eventually.

Edited November 2, 2022 by SinbadThePorter

[MMDown Under]

On 11/2/2022 at 10:15 AM, SinbadThePorter said:

 

The BICT was built by the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL). This is a private company that operates a 99 year lease on all port facilities in Brisbane. It is part owned by Canadian, Abu Dhabi, QIC and IFM Investors.

 

Carnival Corp made guarantees to PBPL in terms of useage of the BICT for the next 15 years. They get priority berthing rights for up to 4 times a week. This enabled PBPL to get financial backing for the BICT and to build the terminal.

 

There could be several reasons for Portside shutting down. The residents of Portside have complained about cruise ship docking for years. PBPL doesn't want to maintain a port that would get very little use. PBPL wants to maximise usage of the BICT.

 

We don't know why the small cruise lines have skipped Brisbane. It may be a matter of convenience, or of cost. In either case I suspect they will get over their misgivings eventually.

The residents of Portside are only there because of the construction of the port.  I understand, why having cruised on small ships.  Their attraction is that they can berth closer to the more attractive centres of places.  Once you've cruised up a river to Bangkok, Saigon, etc you'll never want to berth miles away from the city nor take long bus trips to reach famous cities again.  

[bazzaw]

I am thinking that perhaps operations at Portside are now no longer financially viable. There would be a lot of people involved in working that wharf - and they would be sitting around doing nothing for much of the year? 

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, bazzaw said:

I am thinking that perhaps operations at Portside are now no longer financially viable. There would be a lot of people involved in working that wharf - and they would be sitting around doing nothing for much of the year? 

The Government should be making Brisbane the small ship capital of Australia.  Brisbane has the advantage of being closer to the Far North, PNG and South Pacific islands further afield.  I would jump on any of those cruises, as would a lot of adventure cruisers.  This is a short sighted decision by the Government.  Reminds me of the ripping up the Gold Coast railway and now spending a fortune building a light rail at the GC.  Support small ship cruising and they will come!  Australia is an island!  There is room for all styles of cruising, as long as the facilities are suitable.  

[SinbadThePorter]

On 11/7/2022 at 4:58 PM, bazzaw said:

I am thinking that perhaps operations at Portside are now no longer financially viable.

 

There's also the cost of dredging the turning basin at Portside. Due to the mud and pollution stirred up, dredging is generally seen as not very environmentally friendly these days. So I suppose that's another reason to shut the port down.

Edited November 9, 2022 by SinbadThePorter