What does everyone think about hawkins having the monopoly now. According to news reports hawkins have purchased the combie trader with no intention of running a barge service to moreton island out of scarborough. Resulting in all vehicular access to moreton island via mi-cat at the Brisbane river ?
and an end of an era for all im concerned !
fish guts
I bet it'll cost a fair bit more to get to Moreton soon
Could not agree more mate. As far as I am concerned they should not be allowed to do such a thing and have a monopoly. I can see the prices starting to go up now!!
Having grown up in the area it is a real shame to think that such an icon of the Scarborough area is going to go (so the reports say)
Apart from greed, I don't see the sense in stopping the Combie departing Scarborough to MI as it is easy to access and spreads the load of vehicles when you get to MI .
I think that it will not take long before some competition steps in and starts another service from scarby or bribie or maybe even Caboolture river.
Jack.
Hawkins are looking at buying out the business only.
The ferry itself, steel thing with motors, is owned by Stradbroke Ferries down at Cleveland. It will probably end up running to the Bay islands.
Y
The lady from Hawkins put it perfectly on the radio this morning.
"Since the EPA took over Moreton Island and reduced the number of visitors allowed at any one time, It is not viable to run two main services."
Yep,,the price will probably go up.
Rod
My dictionary defines green as ‘unripe, immature, undeveloped'. Perfect description.
Most political parties are seen as interested in what the voters think, the Greens are seen as thinking the community should be interested in what they think.
Well gentlemen, we are on the way to being the elite of society.
With Diesel for the fourby at $1.49 a litre and unleaded for the boat at $1.39 and the few trips to Moreton each year now touching out at $250-$300 for a few days,we will become a dying race. Don't you just love GST and the fuel exice levy.
And I thought Mr Rudd was looking after the working man
Re: Combie Trader, soon to be just a memory
Its Bl@@dy ridiculous.
The number of people allowed on MI is not restricted by the EPA anymore. Its freaking Hawkins as the MI CAT can only take so many too and from MI. It'll no longer be a weekend destination for the average family.
We might as well all be locked up if we can't truly enjoy what's in our own backyard.
Dont get me started. I am a die hard union labour supported who now votes liberal.....Originally Posted by liltuffy
Well this is a bit of an old thread. Has it happened yet? Have they stopped the Combie Trader service? And what about the EPA question: do they restrict visitors to Moreton?
yeah mate she's all over, apparently it was used as a floating party for river fire. and of course the national parks restrict camping numbers on moreton, but not necessarily visitor numbers. they have been doing so for a while now (and so they should) at all our beaches, if it was left as a free for all the joint would get wrecked. you only have to look back at the bad old days when some tosser would set up camp right next door with his ropes going through your ropes to see that control of camp sites is the best thing to have happened to our beach camping areas. they're finally churning some of the money that we have given them over the years back into facilities, it's a good thing.
New ferry in doubt
26 Aug 08 @ 04:15pm by Nick Berrett
Going going ... The Peninsula may lose out on a Scarborough-based ferry service
SCARBOROUGH:
THE bid for a new Scarborough to Moreton Island link has hit a new snag with the Scarborough Marina set to purchase the lease for the Scarborough landing facilities.
If the sale of the lease from Stradbroke Ferries to the marina proceeds, a new ferry will have to be located elsewhere on the Peninsula or in north Brisbane.
Scarborough Marina managing director Mark Robertson said the marina was looking forward to expanding and reinvigorating the State Government-owned land.
“We’ve planned, for some time, to expand and develop the marina,” he said.
Mr Robertson said the expansion would make room for boats currently stored across the road from the Scarborough landing facilities.
But the Moreton Bay Regional Council will oppose the sale and seek to lease the land itself.
Mayor Allan Sutherland said council would do everything it could to ensure the land remained for a ferry link.
“If we lose that infrastructure, the chances of a ferry starting again are next to nil,” he said.
Mr Robertson said the marina was too small for a large ferry to operate from safely.
“It’s a safety issue,” he said.
“To run a ferry of that size from the marina is a waste of time.
“
Redcliffe and Bayside Herald
What other people think about me is not my business: Michael J Fox.
It could be viable to have an access location near Clontarf boat ramp for vehicle access. This would also ensure that the ramp area being maintained at a suitable depth for operations.
Other alternatives could be Cabbage Tree Creek, Shultz's Canal, Caboolture River or Pumicestone Passage.
Jack.
In past times here on the Bay Islands when competition was welcomed by Islanders, fares for a large car went down as low as 25 bucks return. That of course was caused by Stradbroke Ferries having to run at a loss to squash the oppisition over a length of time.
Once they were squashed fares went straight back up again and continue to escalate to this day.
I haven't caught the barge for a long time but i think it is 79 return now for Islanders and 20 or so bucks dearer for mainlanders. Ah too think when i first came here the passenger ferries were only 2 bucks return compared to 7 bucks one way now.
Combie trader has been doing a few runs from Redlands to the Bay Islands but it is a prick of a barge as it drags it's arse all the way over and back, and they are always having drama's with props.
Maybe Stradbroke Ferries should put a few bob into that nightmare Moggil ferry thing, Christ isnt that thing an eye opener.
Jack the only one out of these would be Pumicestone Passage. That barge has picked in there before. In fact the ramp near the VMR is called the Barge Ramp.
Scott
What other people think about me is not my business: Michael J Fox.
yeah scott there was a barge from bribie for a little while but it went out of business. problem with running from bribie is that it's a fair drive from pretty much anywhere. nice short run in a barge though which would keep the prices down. i feel for the people who have set themselves up in redcliffe and have a place over at bulwer, they've now gotta either go down to the flyer (and dump a car at tangas somewhere) or if they're taking their car they gotta cross the gateway and go to whyte island. it was way easier to go to scarborough. but i guess the commercial reality is that the service became unprofitable/unsustainable and so it had to go. don't think for one minute that there wasn't a monopoly when there were 2 operators either.
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