Brisbane Port

Supporting the expansion of Australia's fastest-growing container port

Our client
Located at the mouth of Brisbane River, the Port of Brisbane is Australia's fastest-growing container port. The Port of Brisbane Corporation wanted to expand the port area by 230 ha which would give it a total of 950 ha. This would be progressively reclaimed, to ensure that wharves and supporting infrastructure could be developed to meet future growth.

Our work
Van Oord started its dredging and reclamation activities in 2006. The following year Van Oord was awarded a contract for the dredging and reclamation of 2.4 million m³ of sand. It began work in December 2007.

The sand was supplied to Fisherman Island and Port West and was dredged from the Spitfire Realignment Channel in Moreton Bay. Trailing suction hopper dredger Volvox Asia transported the material to the designated discharge area for pumping ashore and bottom dumped part of it into an underwater stockpile.

During the execution of the project Van Oord faced some operational challenges. The sand borrow area proved to be quite shallow and narrow with very strong currents. Also, precise planning was required with regard to the vessel's loaded draught in the river, which contained a very shallow bar close to Port West. Proper pipeline layout and reclaim strategy were required due to very soft under layers at certain disposal locations at Fishermen Island.

Our results
Van Oord's work has contributed to the port having new areas available for industrial development and for two new container berths at Fisherman Island.