DISRUPTED AGAIN: Lack of dredging preparation blamed for Daintree Ferry reduced loads and delays

There have been yet more Daintree Ferry disruptions and again tourism operators north of the river say they’ve been left in the lurch by what they claim is bad, or no, communication from Douglas Shire Council.

This time services have been restricted because of low tides in the River, meaning that the ferry could only take a reduced load of vehicles during certain times.

This has caused longer queues due to delays on either side of the crossing.

On Friday Council posted a notice on its website and social media, saying “Daintree Ferry services may be interrupted or have to operate with reduced loads over the next four days due to very low tides.”

An update on Saturday said that delays were expected due to low tides, and that the ferry would be operating reduced loads “over the next few hours”, adding that the tides were “causing issues near the southern ramp.”

A popular tourism business at Cape Tribulation immediately made a formal complaint about the disruption, writing to Douglas Shire Council, saying there had been “yet another bout of poor (no) communication re ferry operations.”

Jeremy Blockey, owner of Cape Trib Farm, said his small business was immediately affected.

“This afternoon we had 8 people miss their fruit tasting tour because council omitted to complete dredging in time for low tides this week, causing peak hour traffic to blow out because the ferry could only take half loads,” he wrote to Council.

“Our guests were waiting for over an hour, were then told it’d be another 45+ minutes before they were likely to get onto the ferry, at which point they bailed and returned south.”