Brisbane is proudly known as the River City, yet in recent years, commercial marine tourism operators have faced an unexpected challenge — there’s nowhere to keep their boats.
Since 2009, tourism operators utilising the Brisbane River for boat tours and other leisure activities, have faced difficulty securing a long-term location to moor their vessels overnight.
Up until 2023, many tourism vessels relied on temporary berthing at Dockside Marina at Kangaroo Point, while others used the Dexus dock at Eagle Street Pier as their home base.
However, the start of a $2.5 billion redevelopment of Eagle Street Pier forced all vessels to leave the site and seek alternative arrangements, which came in the form of temporary berthing at Raptis Seafoods in Morningside.
Meanwhile, all other commercial vessels berthed at Dockside were also moved on in the same year as the State Government enforced lease conditions which restricted the marina to non-commercial craft only. These vessels are temporarily berthed at the recreational superyacht marina Rivergate Marina and Shipyard in Murarrie.
Rivergate Marina and Shipyard, Murarrie
In stark contrast, Sydney is literally awash with short and long-term berthing options for commercial operators, including King Street Wharf at Darling Harbour, Pyrmont Bay Wharf, White Bay, Rushcutters Bay and Rose Bay.
Sydney’s network of commercial berths supports a wide range of marine tourism and charter operations from small operators up to large sightseeing vessels.
In Melbourne, current berthing locations for commercial boats are primarily focused on the Yarra River and Docklands with Port Melbourne and Williamstown supporting larger vessels and marine industry services.
Raptis Investments CEO Tim Beirne said it was important that Brisbane started levelling the playing field with Sydney and Melbourne when it came to aquatic tourism experiences.
“When we realised the significant market failure facing Brisbane, we started to develop a business case for a new marina in place of our existing facilities that would be fit for purpose for commercial vessels,” he said.
“We applied and were successful in obtaining a $4 million contribution from the Queensland Government’s Growing Tourism Fund in recognition of benefits such a marina would have for the tourism industry and the economy.
“Today, we are excited to say that this vision has rapidly progressed with our Development Application now lodged with Brisbane City Council and construction planned to start later this year.”
