A wharf upgrade starting next week at Fremantle Ports’ Inner Harbour will involve installation of a new fender system at E Berth and part of D Berth on Victoria Quay.
Work will include removing the existing 290-metre fender system; driving new steel piles into the harbour; installing concrete planks, beams, fabricated steel items, new rubber fenders and wharf furnishings; and reinstating the deck.
The piling component, occurring intermittently from Mondays to Saturdays over the next eight months, will generate noise but will be carried out between 7 am and 7 pm only.
The timber fender system at E Berth was originally constructed in 1927, with the last major maintenance completed in 1995. Due to the structure’s age and condition, a total replacement is now required.
In 1997, almost two-thirds of D Berth’s timber fender was replaced and upgraded and the remaining third, adjacent to E Berth, now also requires replacement. D and E berths are used for continued cargo handling and vessel repairs.
The new fender system will reduce the stresses imposed on the existing wharf by the larger ships and will need less wharf maintenance.
The system can be incorporated in any future new wharf structure and will enable improved vessel berth positioning, especially for some smaller ships. The wharf upgrading will take 10 months to complete.
Similar work was undertaken at Berth 2 on North Quay about two years ago.
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Press Release, January 9, 2014