Berthing certainty for a select few

Two of Docklands’ 27-strong fleet of commercial vessels could have some certainty over their berthing facilities by November.

The City of Melbourne is likely this month  to call for expressions of interest (EoI) for medium-term tenure for two lucky operators at its Waterfront City Marina.

The council would like to offer similar tenure in the rest of Docklands and is using the Waterfront City EoI as a test case before taking its proposal to VicUrban, which has control over the undeveloped wharves.

Until now, commercial operators have had only 12 months’ certainty over their berths and, even then, VicUrban has insisted on a 30-day cancellation notice period to ensure development rights are maintained.

Under the new Docklands Waterways Strategy, commercial boating will move to the north side of the Yarra in the Lead Lease precinct as development rolls out.

A report to the council’s Docklands Co-ordination Committee says the global economic downturn now meant it was not certain when this could happen.

The council is proposing an interim measure to bring some relief for commercial boat operators who have been asking for security of tenure for some time now.

This issue came into focus two months ago when restaurateur Lou Jovanovski defied the council and berthed his Rivers Voyager at Waterfront City Marina for several days on end.

Operators are currently granted a scheduled window of 30 minutes to set down and pick up passengers at Waterfront City.

In selecting tenants for the Waterfront City Marina, the council will look for:

Who can pay the most;

How to maintain diversity in commercial boat businesses;

High quality products and services; and

Sound operational practices.

The council expects to advertise the expression of interest on July 6 and says it could issue leases by November.

At the Docklands Co-ordination Committee meeting on June 11, Docklands Chamber of Commerce president and charter boat operator Keith Rankin objected to a tendering process.

He said charter operators had invested millions of dollars since being first invited to activate Docklands in the early 1990s.  He said despite promises, operators had battled to survive without tenure and it was unfair to now ask them to compete with outsiders for their berths in the worst economic times they had experienced. He said operators would be happy to pay a fair rent.

However, City of Melbourne chief executive officer Kathy Alexander rejected Mr Rankin’s argument saying that “good business includes competition”.

She said she was interested in asking via a tendering process what applicants could bring to Docklands.