Trailing suction hopper dredger Brisbane is making its way up to Gladstone for annual maintenance dredging of the harbour, according to the Gladstone Ports Corporation.
“In the last financial year we welcomed 1909 ships to our three ports,” said GPC. “It’s important we provide safe “harbour roads” for visiting vessels – just as our roads are maintained to keep them safe for drivers.”
The dredge will be in Gladstone for 33 days to help with the removal of built up sediments that are naturally transported into the harbour.
As reported, all maintenance dredging will be done under strict controls with a broad range of environmental monitoring activities involved.
The TSHD Brisbane is utilised by all QLD ports for the majority of maintenance dredging activities and by GPC for all main navigational channel maintenance dredging.
The vessel was designed with mechanisms to mitigate the environmental impacts caused by the dredging operations. These mechanisms are equivalent to the features installed in the latest TSHD models used around the world.
Since the commissioning of the TSHD Brisbane it has been updated regularly to incorporate the latest environmental advances in dredging technology, ensuring the TSHD Brisbane operates at the same level as the most recent built TSHDs (Haskoning Australia Pty Ltd 2016).