Impact Assessment Study

Initial Advice Statement - Reclamation at Fisherman Islands

1.EXISTING SITUATION

Location of Site

The site for the development is to the north of Fisherman Islands at the mouth of the Brisbane River abutting the existing port area as shown on the attached plan.

Land Tenure

It is the intention of the Corporation to seek tenure for the area shown on the attached plan.

Town Planning

As the land is currently below High Water Mark, it is not currently zoned under the City of Brisbane Town Plan. However, all adjacent port areas that are dry land are zoned waterfront activities under this plan. The existing port area at Fisherman Islands has all been designated as Strategic Port Land (use - port operations) under the Corporation’s Land Use Plan approved on 26 June 1997 (Refer Government Gazette 4 July 1997).

The area is outlined for future port expansion in the Moreton Bay Strategic Plan and is not within the Moreton Bay Marine Park.

The Strategic Plan of the Corporation identifies a need for this area to cater for port purposes specifically for container terminals, general cargo berths, oil berths and storage, container parks/vehicle storage and future port related industries. Provision of an area on Fisherman Islands for public use is also planned to be included in the overall scheme.

2. CHARACTERISTICS

The Fisherman Islands and Environs can be defined as a sub-system of the Moreton Bay system, which can be classified as a sub-tropical estuary. The Fisherman Islands and Environs is bounded by the shipping channels on the north-west, the mainland at Wynnum and St Helena Island. The area consists of wetlands, mangrove forests, inter and sub tidal flats with seagrass meadows and a system of channels in places up to 6 metres deep.

East and south of the area are coral communities at Mud, St. Helena and Green Islands. However, these are not included in the sub-systems as it is not likely that port development will impact on these areas.

3. DESCRIPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL

The proposed development is the reclamation for port purposes of land at the northern end of Fisherman Islands. The area involved in the current application is 320 ha (approximately), including the berth area to be dredged. However, this may be reduced when the final alignment of the northern bund/revetment is determined.

Approvals required comprise:

Approval under Section 91 of the Harbours Act to reclaim the site.

Approval under Section 86 of the Harbours Act for construction of bund walls around the reclamation and the excavation of the future berth areas to a depth of 13 metres between LWD.

Approval under the Environmental Protection Act.

Approval under the Fisheries Act (if disturbance of marine plants is involved).

The attached plan shows the site of the proposed development. The land to be reclaimed will form an extension to the existing port area at Fisherman Islands. Currently, 425 ha of land are either reclaimed or in the process of reclamation. In addition, approval is being sought for the reclamation of a further area totalling approximately 270 ha.

The land to be reclaimed will be used for harbour purposes, principally for container and general cargo wharves and terminals, off-wharf container and cargo storage, transport facilities including roads, railways and intermodal handling yards and port service industries. These uses will be compatible with existing port operations. There are no current plans for the area covered by this report to be the site of major manufacturing industry, nor for it to be used for the storage of explosives or the open storage of dry bulk commodities (eg. coal).

Other means of catering for port development were examined in the 1974 Port of Brisbane Strategic Plan, and in the current Keyport Brisbane Strategic Plan (approved by Cabinet in 1993). These reports have concluded that the best location for port operations to expand is Fisherman Islands, to the north-east of the existing development. The draft Moreton Bay Strategic Plan includes the area, the subject of this report, in a port and industrial zoning. No other sites in the region for port development are considered as suitable for port development.

The development will be carried out by:

1. using material mainly from on site to construct bunds around the perimeter of the reclamation area;
2. using quarry rock sourced from Brisbane area quarries to face the bunds and protect them from sea erosion;
3. using material dredged from navigation channels in the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay to reclaim the area within the bunds.

Quarry rock and other bund material, if required, will be transported to the site via existing major arterial roads (eg. Gateway Arterial Road and Lytton Road) all of which already have significant truck traffic on them. No trucks will be allowed to travel via any residential areas at Wynnum North.

Reclamation will be carried out using mainly the Corporation's dredger, the "Sir Thomas Hiley" (or its proposed replacement) as per existing practice, with material dredged from existing navigation channels in the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay.

It is estimated that 17.5 million cubic metres of filling will be required. Approximately 6.5 million cubic metres will come from the dredging required to create additional shipping berths on the river side of the area. The balance of 11 million cubic metres will come from the placement of material dredged during routine channel maintenance dredging from the River and Bay over, approximately, a fifteen-year period of time.

The land will be reclaimed to a level between RL 6.5 and RL 9.5 on Port Datum, which is similar to areas already reclaimed at Fisherman Islands.

The final design and alignment for the bund and revetments will be determined following monitoring of currents, waves patterns, etc, as part of the impact assessment study.

Stormwater drainage of the site shall be effected by the installation of an appropriate system of drainage, discharging at locations into Moreton Bay and/or the Brisbane River, but avoiding any environmentally sensitive areas identified as part of the Assessment Study. The final drainage system will be designed to meet water quality standards required for the receiving waters.

4. RATIONALE FOR EXPANSION OF FISHERMAN ISLANDS

Further expansion of the Fisherman Islands Port Area is considered essential if the port is to continue to serve Brisbane and the surrounding region into the future, and to develop as a major Australian port into the twenty-first century. This conclusion was first made in the 1992 Keyport Brisbane Strategic Plan which was endorsed by the Government in January 1993.

The major factors influencing the expansion of Fisherman Islands comprise:

Continuing trade growth, both from trade generated within the region and also cargo that can be landbridged to southern states.

Relocation of port facilities from up river areas (principally Hamilton) as urban renewal occurs and these areas are opened up for residential and associated commercial use. This trend is a continuation of the clear historic trend which has seen the port progressively move out of upriver areas. For example, since the late 1980’s the port has moved out of the Newstead-Teneriffe areas, and the river frontage there has become prime a residential area.

Vessel sizes are continuing to grow, and for any port to remain competitive it is essential that it cater for larger vessels, otherwise trade will be lost and the port trade will diminish. In the Australian context, a continuing decline will become self accelerating, as liner trades begin to drop services and centralise in other ports that can handle the larger vessels.

In this regard Fisherman Island’s key attraction over any other potential sites along the lower reaches of the River is its water depth. For any sites upstream of Fisherman Islands depths are virtually constrained to the current 9.1 metres by the presence of rock outcrops along the Lytton Rocks Reach of the River.

By contrast, FI berths and the channels to FI are presently 13 metres minimum and could be economically deepened further if required. Deepening of the Lytton Rocks stretch of the River even by the 1 metre has been estimated at over $100 million.

FI also has the advantage of ready availability to standard gauge rail. Whilst the rail line obviously passes through other areas en route it is essential if rail is to be economic for there to be a minimum number of freight terminals in metropolitan areas, and currently in Brisbane there are only two - FI and Acacia Ridge.

FI is well buffered from nearby residential areas, thus allowing port operations to continue on a 24 hour basis without interfering with residential amenity in nearby areas.

The significance of available depth can be seen in the car trade. Vessels servicing this trade are already of 10 metre draft, and it can be expected that unless car terminals start to be developed at FI, shortly, this trade may be lost to the port. In addition, the car trade is continuing to expand (1997/98 trade growth of 40%) with the result that the capacity of existing terminals at Hamilton has been reached and further areas are required. It is predicted that once one terminal establishes at FI more will follow as the trade switches to larger vessels. The car industry requirements in the short term (over the next 5-6 years) are in fact likely to use up all remaining areas adjacent to the waterfront at FI within that time frame.

As well as the car industry the other major user of land and berth space at FI will be the general cargo and container trades. Their needs are derived from both the move out of Hamilton, and trade growth (eg container trade growth in 1997/98 was 19%).

A preliminary financial analysis of the proposed expansion has shown that there is a sound business case for the proposal. In addition, as stated above, FI possesses unique features which means that no other site is available in Brisbane for the development.