Entrada Travel Group continues Australian expansion with Noosa North Shore Ferries

Entrada Travel Group, Australasia’s largest integrated tourism and transport company, marks a milestone in its Trans-Tasman growth this month with the first sailing of its new ferry service on the Noosa North Shore.

Taking over the Noosa ferry service is the latest addition to the Group’s Australian operations, which include Greyhound Australia, the Daintree River Vehicle ferry, plus a range of marine tourism products in Tropical North Queensland, Entrada secured the contract with the Noosa Council to deliver the services in 2022.

The Noosa North Shore Ferry is the region’s only vehicle ferry service, and acts as the main gateway to the iconic Teewah Beach area, providing 365 days a year access for residents, workers, and visitors, with a crossing around every 10 minutes.

Across its transport and tourism activities in Australia and New Zealand, Entrada will now carry over 3.5 million passengers annually, including domestic and international passengers, and employ 750 people.

Entrada Travel Group CEO John Thorburn said the new service was the next step of Entrada’s growth plans on both sides of the Tasman.

“We’re thrilled to be adding the Noosa North Shore ferry service to the Entrada business,” Mr Thorburn said. “We have got great experience in delivering water transport options from Northland to the Daintree River in Australia, and we’re looking forward to bringing a modern service to Noosa locals and tourists, providing improvements like electronic ticketing and significantly increased capacity.

“It was particularly gratifying to work with a New Zealand business to build the new ferries,” Mr Thorburn added.

Entrada engaged New Zealand-based heavy engineering company Culham Engineering to build two new ferries for the service, a 27-vehicle ferry and a 12-vehicle ferry. These will increase the current vehicle capacity on the service by 95 per cent. The new service will also bring online ticketing and cashless payments to the ferries for the first time.

For more information about the new ferry service, visit noosa-northshoreferries.com.au