| ACA update 21 Sep 17: Gladstone Ports tie up to ACA

GLADSTONE Ports Corporation has come on board as ACA’s latest member. Joining right before our annual conference in Mooloolaba in early Sep, we were delighted to have Andrew Davis, business operations mgr at the event.

Andrew was in good company attending with Darryl Branthwhaite from Gladstone Area Promotion and Development.

Gladstone is one of the largest commercial shipping ports in Queensland but only started welcoming cruise ships 18 months ago. In that time 13 ships have visited and several more are on the books for this season.

And with a $30m waterfront development – including new arrival and interpretive facilities and a transport hub about to commence – the destination is set to become one of the country’s most exciting itinerary inclusions.

“It was such a valuable time to join the Association. We learned so much at the conference about what ships are being built, pax expectations, and what we need to do to be ‘cruise ready’ as a destination,” Andrew mentioned.

As one of the state’s largest deepwater ports, Gladstone is also well positioned to welcome future superliners and is also looking at being in a position to homeport.

Darryl Branthwhaite is optimistic about the future of the destination — “We are all on the same page here about growing the cruise industry opportunity. We are really keen to see it happen and we will make it happen.”