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NOMINATION – Port or Terminal of the Year Award

PORT OF TOWNSVILLE

Lloyd’s List Australia, 21st Australian Shipping & Maritime Industry Awards

www.townsvilleport.com.au

NOMINATION OVERVIEW

The Port of Townsville is a vital and strategic trading port for Queensland and is Northern Australia’s largest

general cargo and container port. Townsville is the international freight gateway for the largest population

centre in Northern Australia and the Port is the country’s leading exporter of zinc, lead, sugar, fertiliser and

molasses.

The Port of Townsville’s main trading partner is Asia (75% of imports and exports), and last year Swire

Shipping commenced the fastest container liner service between Australia and mainland China (Townsville to

Shanghai direct in 10 days).

Port of Townsville’s trade is forecast to treble over the next 30 years, with particularly strong growth

anticipated in containerised and general cargo. To create capacity for this growth, the Port has set about an

ambitious program of infrastructure upgrades and new builds.

Over the past 12 months the Port of Townsville has:

Focussed on improving the efficiency and capacity of existing assets and invested in sectors of future

growth by completing more than $26 million in infrastructure projects and starting projects valued at

more than $50 million, including the development of a new container and general cargo berth due to

open in December 2017.

Finalised an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the $1.5 billion Townsville Port Expansion

Project to enable channel capacity upgrades to cater for larger vessels, staged development of up to

six new berths, and 150 hectares of new reclamation over the next 30 years.

Strengthened engagement with key stakeholders by embracing new ways of communicating in the

digital space. The Townsville Port remains the benchmark in Australia for its utilisation of social media.

Developed a five year strategy to develop Townsville as a cruise and Defence vessel port of choice by

releasing the . Townsville White and Grey Ship-Attraction Plan 2016-2021

Over the next five years the Port of Townsville will facilitate significant projects and initiatives that will cement

its place as Northern Australia’s premier trade and logistics hub.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Projects

Berth 4 Upgrade

The $40.7 million Berth 4 Upgrade Project will double the berth’s capacity (allowing for an additional two

million tonnes of product a year) and will extend its operational life by about 50 years. The upgrade will also

improve cargo movement through the use of modern handling equipment and improved transfer of cargo to

road and rail.

The project design focuses on the maximisation of container and general cargo handling in accordance with

the Port of Townsville’s expansion strategy. Detail of the project design includes:

Raising the deck level on Berth 4 to become level with Berth 3;

Extending the quay line to allow Berths 2, 3 and 4 to become one continuous length (meaning vessels

can be positioned anywhere along the quay line to maximise utilisation);

Extension of the length of Berth 4 from

200 to 241 metres;

Deepening of the berth pocket to 12.5

metres to accommodate larger vessels.

The project was awarded to local business

CivilPlus Construction in February 2016 and

site works commenced in April. The project

is expected to create up to 100 jobs for its

duration and works are on track to be

completed in the final quarter of 2017.

Concrete pouring at night

Berth 6/7 Demolition and Remediation

In 2015 the Berth 6/7 wharf structure was more than 100 years old and had reached the end of its operational

life. The upgrade of Berth 8 during 2014 and subsequent relocation of Glencore’s activities gave the Port of

Townsville the opportunity to remove the old and redundant structure and also widen and deepen the berth

pocket.

Approximately 70,000m3

of material was removed

via mechanical excavator dredge and brought to

land, which is now in a drying process and

awaiting beneficial re-use.

The removal of Berth 6/7 and expansion of the

berth pocket means the distance for combined

beam and tug moving areas for Berth 4 and 8

has improved significantly; which will be required

over time as vessel sizes increase.

Local contractor Pacific Marine Group was

engaged to complete the project which was

completed in June 2016.

Watch a time lapse video of the demolition here.

Excavator completing the

pocket deepening

Berth 6/7 before demolition

Breakwater Stub Removal

A $1.5 million project to remove the Breakwater Stub at the Port of Townsville was completed in August 2016.

Local contractor WILCO Logistics carried out the works which included the removal of 120 metres

(approximately 40,000 tonnes) of the far northern end of the rock wall.

The removal of the rock has widened the entrance

to the harbour in Townsville, therefore improving

ship accessibility and navigational safety.

Stub removed

INNOVATIVE WAYS TO ENGAGE AND COMMUNICATE

The Port of Townsville is situated close to the city centre of Townsville and adjacent to residential areas,

meaning it has a large community stakeholder base that requires genuine, regular communication and

engagement.

Over the past 12 months the Port of Townsville has continued to ramp up its engagement activities to ensure

that key stakeholders understand how the Port operates, how the Port benefits the everyday lives of North

Queenslanders, and why it is a key element in the economic future and sustainability of the region.

The Port uses a suite of engagement tools and activities to ensure that its key target audiences can be

reached effectively. No tool or method is more important than another; they all contribute equally to a

balanced approach.

In its 2015/16 Annual Report, Port of Townsville Limited received a 97% satisfaction rating from the

community.

Social Media – Leading from the front

The Port of Townsville first ventured into the social media space towards the end

of 2013. Now operating from four platforms; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and

LinkedIn, the Port of Townsville has more than 7,400 followers. The mediums are

proving an incredibly effective way of communicating with a broad audience,

and require very little resourcing time compared to traditional forms of

communication.

Why does the Port of Townsville value social media?

• We can tell our story the way we want to: All ports have great stories to tell, the challenge is that those

stories don’t necessarily sell newspapers. Social media allows us to communicate to our dedicated

audience (followers) on a regular basis. During 2015 the Port of Townsville introduced weekly feature

articles (see example below), which have been hugely popular.

• These regular stories allow us to “chip away” at building the value of our Port to the region – a drip feed

of information/stories that

gives credibility to what

we do.

• If the Port of Townsville

has a problem, issue or

crisis event, we have the

means and resources to

connect quickly with a

large audience that has

established trust, over

time, with our business.

Port Stakeholder Working Group

Founded in 2015 following community concerns around potential air quality impacts on the community, the

Port of Townsville formed the Port Stakeholder Working Group (PSWG); a collaborative forum for

stakeholders to discuss and understand air quality and dust deposition data as well as environmental

management activities at the Port.

The PSWG brings together the Port and its customers, community representatives (x 4), North Queensland

Conservation Council and key regulatory stakeholders under the stewardship of an independent Chair. The

PSWG has a clear Terms of Reference which sets out the objectives of the group and guidelines for its

members. All minutes of meetings made publicly available on the Port of Townsville website to ensure

transparency.

In August 2016 the PSWG reached a major

milestone; the publication of the first edition of the

Townsville Port Operations Dashboard. The

Dashboard is an easy to understand reference

point for our community to view data about port

operations and air quality data in Townsville.

The PSWG has been nominated in the

“Community” category of the 2016 Premier’s

Sustainability Awards, recognising Queenslander’s

achieving excellence for leadership in sustainability, innovation and eco-efficiency.

Community

Participation

29 Port tours during 2015/16

Winner of the ‘Community” category in the T150

Pacific Parade