As we posted a few weeks ago, cruise ships are coming to Whangarei from early February. At last! We’re excited and there’s a real buzz about this around town.

If you’re involved with hospitality, tourism, retail, events or community promotions in or around Whangārei, don’t miss Northland Chamber of Commerce’s What’s On Whangārei’ (WOW) Information Session tomorrow (Thursday 9 November) to learn more about how you can benefit from this significant boost to our local tourism market.

Many will not know that Northport plays a role in training and skills development among port operators all around the country. Some of this is the result of a ship simulator and training facility we have established here. This replicates the environment on the bridge of a ship or tug and can be configured to simulate any port in New Zealand or anywhere else. It is used for a wide range of maritime training programmes involving pilots, tug-masters and local port service operators.

Just before COVID struck in 2020, several cruise ships had been booked to call at Northport for what might be termed ‘exploratory’ visits to the Whangārei region. The first of these was booked for the summer of 2021 and, of course, never materialised.