No quitting cruise ship terminals
THE group behind a proposed $4.4 billion cruise ship terminal in a sheltered cove at The Spit aren’t giving up on their four-berth facility and eight-bay super yacht marina.
Despite being knocked back at the first hurdle by State Government last year, the Breakwater Group continues to refine their project in the hope it will gain public momentum and favour with a future change of government.
The ambitious project creates a sheltered docking bay off the end of The Spit with a wide turning circle for large 365-metre cruise ships.
It proposes four cruise ship berths, an eight-bay superyacht marina – also in the protected bay – and 175 associated land packages for sale to third-party developers to fund it.
Breakwater Group director Graeme McIlwain, a maritime engineering specialist heavily involved in developing the Broadwater’s Seaway access in the 1980s and sand-pumping jetty, said yesterday there were “no real engineering constraints” on their project.
Mr McIlwain, also a director of respected engineering consultancy Cardno, said: “The proposal, instead of going into the Seaway with all the problems you have with depth of ships there, would dredge completely different space south of the Seaway with a new entrance into a turning basin 700 metres in diameter for turning the big- gest ships you currently get at 365m.”
Breakwater Group wants to use the dredged material from its proposed turning bay to add to Wave Break Island and fill in additional land around the Spit cruise ship terminal.
“It would actually end up more of parkland than we have at the moment.
“The end of The Spit is the only place that I think is practical for a terminal – you can’t put it in the Seaway, it’d mean ongoing dredging forever.”
Mayor Tom Tate’s pet offshore cruise ship terminal also remains in play but Mr McIlwain said “you can do it offshore but I think the would be prohibitive.
“If you do it onshore and bring ships on to land, you have all the facilities to bring people on and off,” he said.
“One of the issues people forget is none of that land existed before – Wave Break, we build that using material out of the Seaway.
“At the moment The Spit is overgrown, full of snakes and no one seems to be prepared to clean it up.”
Other key aspects of the cost Breakwater Group project involves a transport congestion fix with a whole new access way for motorists. SeaWorld Drive would be upgraded to four lanes and extended to Wave Break Island via an underwater tunnel. The road extension would cross the man-made island meeting a new bridge across to Brisbane Rd, Labrador.
It is envisaged future ferry services and terminals at Wave Break and The Spit would complete the transport strategy.
Overall, due to enhanced land mass from dredging, it anticipates no loss of public space, private parks or beaches, the group proposal states.
A further Spit cove and beach protected by artificial reefs would feature access to dive sites.
Breakwater Group head Craig Perry said their plan was first submitted under the Newman Government but was deemed to be outside the allowed area for development.
“It was therefore non-conforming being located directly towards the ocean and at The Spit,” Mr Perry said.
“We tried at the time to inform government that it was not possible to locate a terminal internally inside the Broadwater that could berth ships of the scale the industry are currently using and were hopeful they would amend the scope to include this area.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has decreed no development north of SeaWorld which automatically rules out the project, but the group argues it is an arbitrary line in the sand made in the run up to the last election.
The Breakwater Group estimates its project would lead to 8500 permanent jobs.
Like Breakwater Group, Mayor Tate’s enthusiasm is as strong as ever for his offshore cruise ship terminal.
Mayor Tate, who campaigned at the 2016 election by openly saying he was in favour of a terminal, told the Bulletin this week his oceanside terminal business case continued to be finalised.
The Labor State Government under Ms Palaszczuk, which has committed to a Spit masterplan consultation process through to July 2019, earlier this year advised the Mayor his project could be resubmitted after the Spit masterplan was complete.
Asked for his view on the length of that process, Mayor Tate said: “Far too long but it is their land and their process.
“We will get the project as ‘shovel ready’ as we can through that process. If the current State Government will not give the green light for us to go to the world market with our Philip Park proposal, we will shelve the project until there is a change of government.”
Mayor Tate even hinted he would consider a crack at a third term in 2020 if need be to see it through: “I would like to but I will need to ask (May-
The end of The Spit is the only place I think is practical for a cruise terminal
oress) Ruth – don’t expect an answer until late 2019.”
Asked if his enthusiasm for his oceanside terminal was dampened by a PricewaterhouseCoopers feasibility study listing 23 “significant risk factors” including uncertainty with the cruise industry committing to Gold Coast stops, design challenges and wave zone construction delays, he said: “No. Every major civil infrastructure project has its risks. The role of the proponent is to work through those risks and mitigate them.”
A Bulletin Golden Age campaign reader survey showed 54 per cent of respondents were against a cruise terminal at the Spit with 46 per cent in support.
Equally, 54 per cent were against it “elsewhere” and 46 per cent were in support.
Asked about the poll result, Mayor Tate said: “There is only one poll that counts and that is the local council elections. Every other mayoral candidate was anti-cruise terminal. I secured 73 per cent of the vote and was open and transparent on the subject.”
LNP member for Broadwater and Shadow Tourism/ Environment spokesman David Crisafulli said the Gold Coast “absolutely, undeniably and categorically” deserved and could support a cruise ship terminal.
“That is not me advocating a location or design. That is a separate process but if you are asking me if the Gold Coast can sustain a terminal, the answer is of course it can,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“And if you are asking me whether we should have one, of course we should.
“It’s another point of difference for tourism, it’s a further diversification, it’s jobs for everyday people and it’s a development that will broaden our economic base.”