Maintenance Dredging at Port of Townsville

The Port of Townsville conducts regular annual
maintenance dredging to maintain depths of its harbor basin and
approach channels for the navigational safety of the vessels against
the natural accumulation of marine sediments. In addition to the
regular maintenance dredging, the port undertakes emergency
dredging in cases where large quantities of sediments are mobilized
and deposited in port waters by cyclone or major flood events. The
maintenance dredging material derived from the port may be
disposed at sea or on land in accordance with relevant state and
commonwealth regulations. For the land disposal, the dredged mud
slurry is hydraulically placed into containment ponds and left to
undergo sedimentation and self-weight consolidation to form fill
material for land reclamation. This paper provides an overview of the
maintenance dredging at the Port of Townsville and emphasis on
maintenance dredging requirements, sediment quality, bathymetry,
dredging methods used, and dredged material disposal options.

• M. Jaditager
• J. Lovisa
• N. Sivakugan

• Consolidation
• dredged material
• maintenance dredging
• marine sediments
• sedimentation.

[1] H.J. Taylor, “The history of Townsville harbour 1864 – 1979” Brisbane: Boolarong Publications, 1980,pp.13.
[2] A.W. Pringle, “ The history of dredging in Cleveland Bay, Queensland and its effect on sediment movement and on the growth of mangroves, corals and sea grass” , Department geography, University of Lancaster , UK, 1989.
[3] Port of Townsville “Port of Townsville dredging records - 1968 to 2011”,2011.
[4] E. Wolanski, R. Gibbs, P.Ridd, B.King, K. Hwang, and A. Metha “ Fate of dredge spoil, Cleveland Bay, Townsville”,in Proc. 10th Australian coastal and ocean engineering conference, Auckland, NZ , 1991, pp.66-69.
[5] Port of Townsville “Long term dredging and dredged material disposal management plan”, 2013.
[6] B.K. Berwick, “Recent dredging issues facing the Townsville Port Authority”, in Proc. 12th Australasian coastal and ocean engineering conference, Melbourne, 1995, pp. 442-449.
[7] Port of Townsville “Long term sediments quality monitoring program”, 2010.
[8] Port of Townsville “Marine sediments monitoring- Annual report”, 2013.
[9] Director of Maritime Service, “Notice to Mariners number 608(T) of 2014”, Maritime Safety Queensland, Department of Transport and Main Roads,Queensland government, 2014.