Full steam ahead
Expedition cruise company expands fleet with new ship
A LANDSCAPE shot of Port Davey, a spectacular part of Tasmania’s rugged Southwest Coast, hangs proudly in a Bungalow boardroom.
“Tasmania is a very dramatic landscape,” said Mark Fifield, veteran seafarer and general manager of Cairnsbased cruise company Coral Expeditions.
“For me, though, the Kimberley is still special … as are the cultural elements of Papua New Guinea and West Papua.”
A career in the marine industry has taken the father of three to some of the Asia Pacific’s most intrepid destinations.
Since 2003, he has been at the helm of Coral Expeditions, a leader in the niche “expedition cruising” market, which is preparing for one of the most pivotal periods in its 34- year history.
The business recently struck a deal – worth in excess of $ 50 million – to build its first new cruise ship since 2005.
To be constructed in Norway, the cutting- edge vessel is expected to be delivered to Cairns in 2019.
The new ship will explore regions such as the Kimberley, Cape York, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Arnhem Land and the South Pacific.
“It’s fantastic to do something like this … we’ll end up with another 70- 80 employees,” Mr Fifield said.
“There’s certainly a lot of excitement within the company. We moved office in March last year and now we’re looking at having to expand this office.”
Born in Durban, South Africa, Mr Fifield spent a significant chunk of his teenage years sailing around the world with his family. They eventually settled in Auckland, where he started building a career in the marine industry.
“While sailing from French Polynesia to New Zealand, there was a big storm and about six yachts actually sank in that period of time,” he remembered.
“We had some horrific weather coming into New Zealand.
“I basically spent three- and- a- half years sailing around the world. It was fantastic, a great life experience.”
He worked his way up the ladder, becoming operations manager for ferry company Fullers Auckland.
Mr Fifield then moved with his family to Fiji, where he was general manager of South Sea Cruises and Awesome Adventures from 1997- 2003.
He joined Coral Expeditions, which was then known as Coral Princess Cruises.
The company had recently moved its base from Townsville to Cairns and was in the process of building a new cruise ship, Coral Discoverer.
It remains the last new vessel to be launched by the company, but that is set to change over the coming three years.
Construction is set to start on the recently announced new cruise ship early next year and Mr Fifield said a second new ship was expected to be hot on its heels.
“At the moment our fleet is a little ageing. The two smaller ships have been in service since 1986,” he said.
“The market is looking for updated products, so we need to do that.”
With long- term growth expected for the global cruise market, Mr Fifield said the time was right for Coral Expeditions to ramp up.
“We had a few challenges over the years with the political climate,” he said. “We came close to signing contracts for other vessels, but the industry was just a bit too unstable.
“Passenger ship cruising is growing rapidly, but the expedition cruising sector within that is growing at the fastest rate of any cruising sector.”
Mr Fifield said Cairns was a “good central point” for the business’ operations. He described expedition cruising as an intimate, smaller- scale style of cruising.
“It’s that feeling of coming around a corner in a bay and seeing something that you didn’t expect,” Mr Fifield said.
“For me it’s the quietness, the wildlife you get to see and the night sky.”
Mr Fifield lives at Caravonica with his wife and enjoys being involved with the Cairns Surf Life Saving Club.