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A deeper harbour is essential for our economy

Originally published on 11 August 2003

To remove the draft restriction on panamax vessels, which current results in sub-optimal loading of vessels and thus higher and less-competitive freight rates, initial indication were that over 1.5 million cubic metres would need to be dredged from the sea floor at the entrance to the harbour and from the area between the sugar and grain loading facilities.

Following extensive port simulation at the Australian Maritime College in Launceston, it became clear that, provided new towage techniques were employed to improve ship navigation across the port entrance currents, the access windows for deep-draft vessels could be extended to take full advantage of the high tide.

As a consequence the assessed dredging requirement has been reduced to only one stage based on a single excavation programme to deepen the harbour by 1.5 metres, involving the removal of approximately 1,000,000 cubic metres of material and taking approximately six months.

A favoured option for the distribution of the material excavated from the harbour floor is as fill over some of the western port lands.

Significant environmental study has been conducted of those lands (refer the downloads section for the Western Lands Draft Report) and conditional support has been indicated by the Community Reference Group to the report’s Scenario 2 comprising some 50ha of the 103ha not already under conservation management by the MPA.

Due to recent changes in the international marketing strategy for raw sugar, no time frame has yet been defined for the dredging project.

When the project does ultimately proceed, the non-contaminated material removed from the harbour floor, dominantly sandy clay, would be dewatered in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Your Mackay Port Authority's decision on the preferred format for the dredging project and the associated disposition of the excavated material will take account of the expert scientific evaluations and community expectations.