The Hall Contracting  back-hoe dredge Woomera starts work in Cairns this week in the second phase of dredging to widen and deepen the Trinity Inlet navigation channel.

The 65m-long Backacter (BA) 900 dredge is the largest vessel of its kind in Australia and joins the 111m long dredging ship Balder R on the $127 million Cairns Shipping Development project.

“This is a crucial part of the project that will ensure the Port of Cairns will be well positioned to benefit from cruise shipping industry demands into the future,” Member for Cairns Michael Healy said.

“This means more ships, more visitors, more tourism and business opportunities for the region, as well as improved access and efficiency for bulk cargo ships and larger visiting Navy vessels.

“Already we’re seeing this project create 800 direct and indirect jobs during construction, and by 2031 it’ll mean more than 2,700 jobs for the region.”

The Balder R is responsible for removing soft clays from the channel, which are delivered to a facility 3km offshore and pumped along an 8km pipeline to a dedicated site at the Northern Sands mine. 

Ports North Chairman Russell Beer said the Woomera would remove stiff clays from the inner harbour.

The excavator attached to the back weighs 370 tonnes and will use 10 cubic metre and 13 cubic metre bucket attachments for the project.

The material will be transported by barge to Ports North’s Tingira Street placement site to be reused in the industrial hub of the Port of Cairns.

Following completion of the dredging, site stabilisation will be undertaken and the dredge material used for geotechnical improvements to enable future Port-related uses on the site.