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Katie Woolf spoke with Darwin Port General Manager of Operations Ian Niblock · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolf and three point sixty online at Mixed
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  Speaker 1: one O four nine dot com. It's twenty seven minutes
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  Speaker 1: after eleven o'clock. Love to hear from you today. If
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  Speaker 1: you've got something on your mind that you think we
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  Speaker 1: need to know about, coming your way in a little
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  Speaker 1: while we will whip around the nation. I'll let you
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  Speaker 1: know what's making news headlines in other states and territories.
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  Speaker 1: But joining me in the studio right now, Darwin Port,
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  Speaker 1: General Manager of Operations, Ian Niblock, Good morning, Ian.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Always good to have you in the studio and find
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  Speaker 1: out what's going on around the place. And I know
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  Speaker 1: that we've got a French naval ship currently here.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, we have. So it's actually nice to see a
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  Speaker 2: ship at Fort Hill Wharf because that's been unusual these dates.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, French naval ship the Valdemire has come alongside,
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  Speaker 2: going to be alongside for four days. You know that
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  Speaker 2: the ship's been at sea visiting various places around the Pacific.
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  Speaker 2: Last port was in excess of fourteen days before she
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  Speaker 2: arrived here. So it's covering off that COVID sone. All
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  Speaker 2: of the crew have been tested and then and then
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  Speaker 2: they've all come back with negative tests, so they've been
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  Speaker 2: allowed to come ashore and I guess they'll have a
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  Speaker 2: bit of R and R and spend a bit of
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  Speaker 2: money and just enjoy being in Darwin and being off
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  Speaker 2: the ship.
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  Speaker 1: How many of them are on board? Do you know?
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  Speaker 1: Do you know?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know that, but because I haven't I haven't checked.
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  Speaker 2: And it's not like the cruise ship. No, No, it's
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  Speaker 2: medium sized, so it's probably you know, when they have
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people on those ships, I would say
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  Speaker 2: it'll be an excess of one hundred people.
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  Speaker 1: Because we always get a few questions like about the
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  Speaker 1: you know, in terms of the COVID precautions, what needs
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  Speaker 1: to happen before they're allowed to get off the ship.
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  Speaker 1: And we'd ask the Health Minister about it a while
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  Speaker 1: back and she'd said that, no, there is quite a
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  Speaker 1: stringent process in place.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is. And so you know, there's been a
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  Speaker 2: couple of occasions in the past where we've had people
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  Speaker 2: who've been on well on board ships and we and
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  Speaker 2: we change all the arrival pros calls for those ships.
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  Speaker 2: In this case, it was a it was just we'll
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  Speaker 2: test everyone on board, we'll get the COVID test back
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  Speaker 2: if there's any If there's any positives, that would have
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  Speaker 2: been dealt with differently obviously, but they're all negatives. So
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  Speaker 2: there enjoying themselves in Darwin.
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  Speaker 1: And how long are they going to be here?
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  Speaker 2: For four days? So they're about halfway through at the
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  Speaker 2: moment and that's all good.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know that, Well, it might not be
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  Speaker 1: the only ship that we see for a little while,
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  Speaker 1: looking as though there could be the possibility of some
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  Speaker 1: small cruise liners.
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  Speaker 2: Well there is a possibility, and we've got bookings in
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  Speaker 2: our system kicking off from the beginning of April, and
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  Speaker 2: it is the smaller, the smaller cruise vessels that typically
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  Speaker 2: do the Kimberlely cruises. So the primary operator is an
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  Speaker 2: Australian operator, Coral Expeditions. They've got three ships booked in
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  Speaker 2: and we're just fingers crossed toes cross that it's going
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  Speaker 2: to happen. There's going to be very tight restrictions that
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  Speaker 2: have been proposed, so it'll be one hundred testing of everybody,
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  Speaker 2: crew and passengers before they're allowed to board the ship.
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  Speaker 2: They'll be tighter controls around all of their shore excursions.
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  Speaker 2: They have to have ilation capability on board the ship,
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  Speaker 2: so no doubt that would be a change for the
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  Speaker 2: ship in terms of how they would manage that. And
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  Speaker 2: then the passenger numbers will be restricted so that they
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  Speaker 2: can meet the physical distancing criteria, and I suppose that
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  Speaker 2: that's primarily at meal times and things like that, so
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's not without some challenges, but we know
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  Speaker 2: the cruise line is really keen to get cruising again.
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  Speaker 2: And then I suppose flowing off from the smaller ships
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  Speaker 2: will then hopefully start to see the bigger ships.
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  Speaker 1: Right here, I was going to say, in the initial stages,
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  Speaker 1: is it more going to just be some of those
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  Speaker 1: domestic sort of ships, not international ones, so that they
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  Speaker 1: can get the process right first.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it is. And domestic ships and domestic travelers,
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  Speaker 2: and of course, you know, we can't travel overseas, so
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  Speaker 2: there's a great opportunity to go and travel and see
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  Speaker 2: Australia or go on a ship and see parts of
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  Speaker 2: Australia coastline that you might not get to see. We've
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  Speaker 2: certainly done that as a family, and it's just recently
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  Speaker 2: even really thought of it, and it's great, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's so a great opportunity, and we're starting with the
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  Speaker 2: domestic market and then and then we really hope that
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  Speaker 2: in the future we will see that the return of
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  Speaker 2: international vessel.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, when you're talking about the domestic market,
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  Speaker 1: it's no different to people getting on planes at this
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  Speaker 1: point in time and traveling around as in you know,
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  Speaker 1: in terms of your COVID management, I'm assuming, but just
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  Speaker 1: making sure that people are spread out.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's probably easier on a ship because you're
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  Speaker 2: not tightly packed in. It's probably easier to do the
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  Speaker 2: sanitizing and for people to physical distance, and so I
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  Speaker 2: think overall it's probably easier on a small ship than
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  Speaker 2: it is on a plane. When you start talking about
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  Speaker 2: the big ships with large numbers of people, I think
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  Speaker 2: there's going to be some challenges in that space, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, hey, challenges are there to be overcome. You
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  Speaker 2: just got to find good, safe solutions and that will
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  Speaker 2: allow the cruising to start again. And I know a
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  Speaker 2: lot of people are keen to get back to cruising
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  Speaker 2: and is it like, is it.
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  Speaker 1: Going to it's obviously, you know, it's a market that
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  Speaker 1: we're missing in the territory at the moment. When it
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  Speaker 1: comes to our tourism and our economy. So I'm assuming
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  Speaker 1: that even though they're you know, they're not as large
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  Speaker 1: as those big international ships, that it does mean that
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  Speaker 1: we're going to have some of those tourists back in
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  Speaker 1: the city.
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  Speaker 2: It does definitely, and you know that they'll no doubt
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  Speaker 2: come and spend some money in the city, They'll spend
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  Speaker 2: some time, which will grow our numbers, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's just it'd be nice to just welcome some visitors
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  Speaker 2: back and see the smiley faces as they walk around
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  Speaker 2: and enjoy our tropical, tropical city.
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  Speaker 1: Are they very big? Those those domestic cruise ships, Like
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  Speaker 1: how many do you usually have on them?
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  Speaker 2: So they're less than one hundred people in most cases,
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  Speaker 2: relatively small ships about one hundred meters, which you know,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people might think that's quite a big ship,
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  Speaker 2: but by comparison to some of our other ones, no
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  Speaker 2: it's not. But yeah, and some very modern tonnage as well.
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  Speaker 2: A couple of the ships are really new and beautiful inside.
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  Speaker 2: So great opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So when will we know for sure if it's
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  Speaker 1: definitely a go up by.
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  Speaker 2: I'm reckoning by early March or mid March latest, will
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  Speaker 2: will be so all the proposals have been put up.
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  Speaker 2: I guess it's about government saying yes, yeah, well let
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  Speaker 2: us know.
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  Speaker 1: We'd be keen to find out when it does get
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  Speaker 1: the go ahead, and if it gets the go ahead.
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  Speaker 2: Well we're sitting excited about it. So yeah, fingers crossed.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well in the block. It's always wonderful to talk
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  Speaker 1: to you, of course. The Darwin Port General Manager of Operations,
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  Speaker 1: thank you very much for coming in today.
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  Speaker 2: It's my pleasure, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.