Qld: Cruiseship terminal opens for business

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2006
Qld: Cruiseship terminal opens for business

BRISBANE, Aug 29 AAP - Brisbane is expecting a major boost in the number of ocean liners
to berth in the Queensland capital following the opening of a new cruise ship terminal.

The $750 million Portside Wharf and Brisbane Cruise Terminal development on the Brisbane
River at Hamilton welcomed its first vessel today when P&O's Pacific Star docked.

Another 48 liners are due to berth in the next 12 months, four times the number that
visited Brisbane in 2003, when work on the development by property group Multiplex started.

Multiplex Developments Australia director Shane Bulloch said the cruise terminal was
expected to deliver more than 200,000 passengers to Brisbane a year and also provide berths
for several multi-million dollar super yachts.

Mr Bulloch said the cruise industry recognised Brisbane was the gateway to the Gold
Coast and Sunshine Coast as well as the stepping stone for cruise ships travelling between
The Whitsundays and Sydney.

"They also see Brisbane as a modern, contemporary sub-tropical city with its own rich
heritage that will appeal to international visitors," he said.

Mr Bulloch said the home of the cruise terminal, Portside Wharf, would become a tourism,
retail and leisure destination in its own right with prestige dining outlets and residential
apartments.

Portside Wharf also boasts Brisbane's first international riverfront residential precinct
with riverside apartments costing up to $5 million.

AAP sc/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: PORTSIDE (PIX AVAILABLE)

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