Significance

The Port of Brisbane is the shipping port on the east coast of Australia. Currently, it is the third busiest port in Australia and the nation's fastest growing container port. It includes the main shipping channel across the Moreton Bay which extends 90 km north to Mooloolaba and is dredged to maintain a depth of fourteen metres at the lowest tide.

Infrastructure

The port is managed by the Port of Brisbane Corporation (PBC) and facilitates more than 2,600 ships each year. The Port of Brisbane has nine deep-water container berths and three deep-water bulk berths as well as 17 bulk and general cargo berths. In total the port transports more than 28 million tonnes of cargo each year.

There are two cruise ship wharves for Brisbane, with differing facilities. Portside Wharf was completed in 2006 and is an international standard facility for cruise liners, offering restaurants, coffee shops, gift shops, and more. However, due to the height restrictions of the Gateway Bridge, the larger ocean going cruise liners must dock further up the river at the more industrial standard Pinkenba Wharf, which is managed by the Port of Brisbane authority.

The port accommodates a visitor’s centre and in 2005 a shorebird roost was constructed. The bird roost is the largest site built specifically for migratory shorebirds on the east coast of Australia.

Communities

The Brisbane port presents an ideal example of sustainable development. The port’s hinterland area of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, produces majority of agricultural goods that are exported through Brisbane. The port supports its local and wider communities through sponsorships and the provision of educational opportunities. It also provides free school and community port through its Visitors Centre. The Port of Brisbane has a Community Consultative Committee with representatives from conservation, business and community groups with an interest in the Corporation’s activities and its impact on neighbouring communities. This committee provides a link to all the stakeholders and local communities through which it raises awareness about the port, its development and plans for the future. The committee also provides in-kind support to a number of re vegetation areas located in the local area.

Environment

The port’s environmental objectives and targets, which are annually reviewed, ensure that its activities and services have a minimal environmental impact. It also seeks objectives and targets that will provide sustainable port operations.

Measures adopted by Port of Brisbane

• Adopted rigid and recent chain deflectors
• Operational protocol (no suction when not in contact with seabed and use of draghead jets)
• Extensive liaison with Qld EPA (Col Limpus)
• Environmental window at Mon Repos (recognized rookery)
• Turtle capture data form/EPA reporting
• Photographs of captures to EP

 

This project is an ambitious effort to improve shipping channels for the Port of Houston-Galveston to accommodate larger ships. During this effort, efforts for environment protection have also been adopted. The port’s shipping channels currently have a navigation depth of 40 feet.

The project will deepen the shipping lanes to 45 feet. The port of Houston-Galveston is one of the top five U.S. ports handling bulk cargo, including imports of crude oil and exports of petroleum products and chemicals. More than 5,000 ships and 50,000 barges utilize the port, accounting for over 2,00,000 jobs.

It is also a major regional port for the handling of containerized cargo and anchors a vast domestic distribution chain via the Intracoastal Waterway.

Deepening the shipping channels at the port will ensure that it can continue its crucial role in the nation’s economy. At the same time, as part of the project, an interagency team, including the Corps, has been formed to address environmental concerns.

The team is taking a number of steps to reduce the environmental impact of the project, including constructing 118 acres of oyster reef in mid-Galveston Bay near the shipping channel. Dredged material also is being used to create an 8-acre island with the intension to provide habitat for several species of birds.

 

To accommodate larger international container ships, the Corps worked with several agencies to dredge new and deeper navigation channels at the Port of Los Angeles. The dredged material was used to construct a new pier in the outer harbour to allow construction of additional cargo terminals.

These changes have enabled the Port of Los Angeles to keep up with the demands by its ever-expanding role as a linchpin of America’s participation in the global economy. Los Angeles is the seventh largest port in the world handling containerized shipping.

It is a regular host to the Marsk S class, the world’s largest container ship. Overall, the port handles over $100 billion worth cargo annually, including an array of manufactured and consumer goods from the Pacific Rim.

The dredging of the port has been a tremendous economic success, but it also has had an impact on marine life in the area. To offset this impact, the Corps and other agency partners dredged the inlet to nearby Batiquitos Lagoon, opening it up to the ocean for the first time since 1930s.

Marine fish have returned in record numbers and the salt marsh has been revitalized by the tidal exchange. The Batiquitos Lagoon Enhancement Project is one of the largest restoration projects completed in America.

 

Five species of sea turtles occur along the United States coastlines and are listed as threatened or endangered. Before the 1980 maintenance dredging of the Cape Canaveral entrance channel, sea turtle mortalities were not an issue. But, during the 1980 maintenance dredging of the Cape Canaveral entrance channel, an unusually large number of sea turtles were discovered in the channel and sea turtle mortalities from dredging activities were also documented.

• A large number of turtles visited the port site, dredging equipment, operations, and management techniques the documented numbers of turtles affected by dredging at Cape Canaveral entrance channel have been reduced from 71 in 1980 to 3 in 1981, 9 in 1984,5 in 1986,28 in 1988, and 7 in 1989.
  
  
• During the ten-year dredging period from 1980 to 1990,149 incidents with three species of sea turtle (loggerhead, green, and Kemp’s Ridley) have been reported from Cape Canaveral and Kings Bay entrance channels. This included 123 incidents at Canaveral and 26 incidents in Kings Bay channel; Reported incidents have been limited to hopper dredges only.

Operation Modification

A number of modifications have been done here to help in the conservation of the turtles:

• Seasonal Restriction
• Draghead Pumps Turned Off
• Reduced Vessel Speed
• Change in Dredge and Draghead Types
• Flexible Design of Deflectors
• Relocating Turtles
• Adopting Different Dispersal Techniques
• Monitoring of Potential Dredging Impact
• Monitoring of Turtle Mortality
• Use of Endangered Species Observers
• Material Screening
• Monitoring the Effectiveness of the Management Program