THE PORT OF TOWNSVILLE remains open but road and rail operators are scrambling to find alternative arrangements following the flooding of rail lines and the collapse of a key bridge on the Bruce Highway north of Townsville.
Although rainfall has slowed today, easing some fears of inundation of dozens of Townsville suburbs, rail links both north and south remain cut and the part-destruction of the Ollera Creek Bridge has choked off vital supplies of fuel, food and groceries to isolated communities, and the township of Ingham which also suffered flood-related power failure. Truckers face a northbound diversion of at least 700 kilometres.
Port of Townsville GM Customer, Operations and Safety, Drew Penny told DCN the port had remained open during the weather event.
Pilotage services were suspended on Saturday due to adverse weather conditions but resumed operations at midday yesterday [3 February].
“Loading and unloading of vessels in port was delayed over the weekend due to the weather event, but operations have now resumed as normal,” Mr Penny said. “The port continues to work with customers to support their operational needs.”
ANL Container Line has advised it has revised the rotation of ANL Kokoda V0225S/N to call Gladstone prior to Townsville to alleviate any possible delays. “The new schedule will be Gladstone 0600/4th to 0600/6th, and Townsville 1200/7th with ETD TBA,” the line said. “Singapore ETA currently remains unchanged at 20/2 at this stage.”
The paralysed land transport links will again raise the question of coastal shipping alternatives in times of natural disasters, a key aim of the federal government’s Strategic Fleet initiative. No results have been released for the initial round of tenders, which closed at the end of November. Separately, in early January the Queensland and federal governments announced the joint commitment of $9 billion of funding for Bruce Highway upgrades to improve safety and resilience, with Canberra to provide 80%.
