Australia’s largest backhoe dredge – the giant Woomera has been busy lately clearing the hard clays from the Trinity Inlet.
The Ports North this morning released a video showing the backhoe dredge Woomera working near the Port of Cairns wharves as part of the dredging for the Cairns Shipping Development project.
Spanning 65 meters in length, Woomera was designed in the Netherlands and can dredge depths of up to 26 meters.
The Cairns Shipping Development Project is widening and deepening the existing Trinity Inlet shipping channel and placing the dredge material on land at a cost of up to $127 million.
This will facilitate cruise ship growth for vessels up to 300 meters, with a forecast demand of up to 150 cruise ships through the Port of Cairns by 2031.
The widening and deepening of the shipping channel will be performed by the teams of Rohde Nielsen and Hall Contracting.
Dredging and wharf upgrade works are set for completion in 2020.