Townsville dredging hits milestone – One year of channel widening

Port of Townsville Limited is marking a significant anniversary today for its Channel Upgrade project as they celebrate one year of channel widening.

Port of Townsville

“In that time, we’ve removed 1.65 million cubic metres of dredge material, unloaded 1126 barges and worked a combined 359,009 hours,” the Port said.

Port of Townsville photo

The $232m Channel Upgrade project will see the Platypus channel (Port end) widened to 180m, tapering to 120m offshore, to accommodate vessels up to 300m in length when completed in 2024.

All dredge material removed as part of the channel upgrade project is being brought back to land for placement in the 62ha reclamation area.

In total, about 3.4 million cubic metres of material will be removed from the 14.9km shipping channel.