OPERATIONS at the slipway in Port Douglas should recommence in the coming weeks after an upgrade of the facility is completed.

The Reef Marina (TRM) General Manager Andrew Hooper-Nguyen said a ‘significant investment’ in upgrading the slip was underway in order to meet the necessary Environmental Authority obligations, which forced them to close it down in March.

The new upgrade was recommended in an engineering report commissioned by TRM which highlighted several infrastructure and procedural issues primarily relating to the facility's age and lack of maintenance ‘under previous slipway operators’, according to Hooper-Nguyen.

“We suspended operations in late March when it became apparent that the slipway did not have a necessary Environmental Authority; and had not had such authority for some years pre-dating our acquisition of Port Douglas Marina,” Hooper-Nguyen said.

“This suggests that the environmental regulator has neglected to fulfill its oversight obligations over an extended period.

“We have applied for and have now received Environmental Authority, subject to numerous conditions.”

TRM said the works may take 'weeks' but business would recommence once completed.

“We sincerely apologise to our customers that have been inconvenienced by the slipway's closure,” Hooper-Nguyen said.

“However, The Reef Marina takes our environmental obligations seriously and we will not be pressured into undertaking illegal slipway operations by uninformed and shrill rhetoric.”