Gladstone Ports Corporation Limited (GPC) recently finalized the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed $760 million Gatcombe and Golding Cutting Channel Duplication Project.
The project seeks to duplicate the existing shipping channels, beneficial reuse of dredged material in land reclamation, and upgrade associated infrastructure in the Port of Gladstone, Queensland.
It will improve the existing and future safe passage of vessels within the port as throughput and associated vessel numbers increase.
The major dredging component of the project involves deepening and widening of the existing Gatcombe and Golding Cutting bypass shipping channels, resulting in two shipping channels of the same depth to allow an improved two-way passage into the port under all weather and tidal conditions.
The proposed duplicate channel will be approximately 15km long and dredging is proposed to be undertaken to an ultimate depth of -16.1m LAT, with a channel width (toe to toe) of 200m.
This equates to the removal of approximately 12.6 million cubic meters of seabed material (including dredging tolerance) from the Gatcombe and Golding.
In addition to the 12.6Mm³ of dredging for the Gatcombe and Golding Cutting Channels, initial dredging of approximately 250,000m³ of seabed material is proposed to establish a 2.3km long access channel to allow barges to transport dredged material from the shipping channels to the BUF.
The total estimated project dredging volume is 12.85 million cubic meters of seabed material.
If all goes according to schedule, this massive dredging project could begin as early as 2023.