Bid to link navy to sport

PLANS have been revealed to lure a US Navy ship to the city for next month’s Rugby League World Cup.

The move is part of a push to bring more military vessels to Townsville to coincide with major events, including the rugby league tournament and next year’s Commonwealth Games.

In a submission to the Senate committee inquiry into the impact of Defence training activities and facilities on rural and regional communities, Port of Townsville operations and logistics general manager Jacob Kalma told of plans to enhance Defence’s experience in the city.

“The Townsville White and Grey Ship Attraction Committee, for which the Port of Townsville provides a chair, works to ensure defence vessels visiting Townsville are made aware of all the wonderful tourism opportunities that are available in our region,” Mr Kalma’s submission read. “The committee is also working on establishing regular annual events with Navy, such as exhibition rugby games, to increase the navy’s participation in the social aspects of Townsville.”

The US World Cup team will play pool matches in Townsville on October 28 and November 5.

Townsville Enterprise tourism and event executive manager Bridget Woods said the tournament present- ed the city with an opportunity to lure a US Navy ship for some leisure time.

“We are working with Townsville City Council and the mayor’s office to invite navy ships here for particular events,” she said. “The Rugby League World Cup is relevant to countries we might be targeting and the US team participating is a good opportunity that has presented itself.”

Ms Woods said that while commercial in- confidence prevented her revealing how official invitations would be sent, she admitted it was a complicated process.

She said that, while there was an immediate focus on the US, other countries such as Singapore would also be a future target for invitations.

“It’s not easy. There is a political process that needs to be undertaken that requires the support of the local, state and federal governments,” she said. “There are definitely relationships we want to grow.”

Ms Woods said July’s Exercise Talisman Sabre provided the largestscale opportunity to date for TEL to pass on tourism and local business information to the personnel aboard Australian, New Zealand and US ships that visited the region.

Port of Townsville spokeswoman Sharon Hoops said the upcoming $ 193 million Channel Capacity Upgrade was crucial to promoting confidence in captains that the city could accommodate larger military vessels.

In July, the captains of the USNS Charles Drew ( 210m) and USNS Richard E. Byrd ( 210m) were too “uncomfortable” to dock at the port, with the Richard E. Byrd instead anchoring off Magnetic Island.

“We have a current capacity for vessels up to 238m but once the channel dredging is complete, we will be able to host ships larger than 300m,” Ms Woods said. “This is important because Northern Australia needs to have an alliance- friendly port.”

The USS Greenbay is about 208m, USS Bonhomme Richard 257m, while the Singapore ships are 141m long.