Brisbane’s economy is about to get another injection from the cruise industry with P&O Cruises’ local superliner Pacific Dawn undergoing a multi-million dollar refurbishment in the Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard over the next fortnight.
The 70,000-tonne superliner sailed into the Morningside dockyard on Saturday evening for an overhaul which will see a range of new features added to the ship, from a giant poolside entertainment screen to a dedicated ice-cream parlour and new interconnecting family cabins.
The refurbishment will also see Pacific Dawn receive a new coat of paint, with more than 5000 litres of paint product, including the efficient and environmentally friendly Intersleek, being applied to the underwater hull, while 5000 square metres of new carpet will be laid in the ship’s public areas and cabins.
With hundreds of new pieces of furniture being taken on board, from coffee tables and art work through to sofas and mirrors, P&O Cruises will donate truckloads of redundant furniture from the ship to Lifeline in Brisbane to help raise funds for the organisation.
Meanwhile Pacific Dawn’s new entertainment screen, measuring seven metres by four metres, will be fitted with a giant locally-built aluminium frame delivered on a special barge from the manufacturer’s site on the Brisbane River to the dockyard. The screen will then be lifted onto the top decks by crane.
In all, more than 600 specialist workers will handle the scheduled refurbishment along with 600 ship crew and the dockyard’s workforce of more than 200, turning the dockyard into a mini-city for the next two weeks.
The Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard has been refurbishing cruise ships for 12 years, since P&O Cruises first sent a ship to the yard in 2000. Next month, Dawn Princess, one of sister cruise line Princess Cruises’ local fleet, will become the 200th dry-docking project at Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard.
Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia which represents both P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises, said the multi-million dollar drydock and refit projects were a great example of the economic benefit delivered by the growing cruise industry.
“Queensland’s cruise industry has boomed over the past five years to a point where the Sunshine State now has Pacific Dawn based here full time and a Princess ship homeported here each summer, so there are massive flow-on benefits to local businesses year round,” “Refurbishing our ships in Brisbane just adds more money to the local economy.”
Ms Sherry said a study undertaken by Deloitte Access Economics for Carnival Australia earlier this year had shown that the cruise industry contributed $166.4 million to the Queensland economy in 2010-11 – second only in size to New South Wales ($370.9 million).
“What’s more, cruising’s economic contribution in Queensland is forecast to rise to $340.8 million in 2019-20, so the cruise industry has an important future in the state.”
Forgacs Global Sales Director George Windram said that Forgacs Engineering was extremely proud to be an important part of Carnival Australia’s supply chain for the refurbishment and refits of its fleet of cruise ships operating in the Australian region.
The 70,000-tonne superliner sailed into the Morningside dockyard on Saturday evening for an overhaul which will see a range of new features added to the ship, from a giant poolside entertainment screen to a dedicated ice-cream parlour and new interconnecting family cabins.
The refurbishment will also see Pacific Dawn receive a new coat of paint, with more than 5000 litres of paint product, including the efficient and environmentally friendly Intersleek, being applied to the underwater hull, while 5000 square metres of new carpet will be laid in the ship’s public areas and cabins.
With hundreds of new pieces of furniture being taken on board, from coffee tables and art work through to sofas and mirrors, P&O Cruises will donate truckloads of redundant furniture from the ship to Lifeline in Brisbane to help raise funds for the organisation.
Meanwhile Pacific Dawn’s new entertainment screen, measuring seven metres by four metres, will be fitted with a giant locally-built aluminium frame delivered on a special barge from the manufacturer’s site on the Brisbane River to the dockyard. The screen will then be lifted onto the top decks by crane.
In all, more than 600 specialist workers will handle the scheduled refurbishment along with 600 ship crew and the dockyard’s workforce of more than 200, turning the dockyard into a mini-city for the next two weeks.
The Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard has been refurbishing cruise ships for 12 years, since P&O Cruises first sent a ship to the yard in 2000. Next month, Dawn Princess, one of sister cruise line Princess Cruises’ local fleet, will become the 200th dry-docking project at Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard.
Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia which represents both P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises, said the multi-million dollar drydock and refit projects were a great example of the economic benefit delivered by the growing cruise industry.
“Queensland’s cruise industry has boomed over the past five years to a point where the Sunshine State now has Pacific Dawn based here full time and a Princess ship homeported here each summer, so there are massive flow-on benefits to local businesses year round,” “Refurbishing our ships in Brisbane just adds more money to the local economy.”
Ms Sherry said a study undertaken by Deloitte Access Economics for Carnival Australia earlier this year had shown that the cruise industry contributed $166.4 million to the Queensland economy in 2010-11 – second only in size to New South Wales ($370.9 million).
“What’s more, cruising’s economic contribution in Queensland is forecast to rise to $340.8 million in 2019-20, so the cruise industry has an important future in the state.”
Forgacs Global Sales Director George Windram said that Forgacs Engineering was extremely proud to be an important part of Carnival Australia’s supply chain for the refurbishment and refits of its fleet of cruise ships operating in the Australian region.
Source: pocruises.com.au
