Engineered Maintenance of Newcastle Port Wharf Structures
Warren Green, Vinsi Partners Consulting Engineers, Sydney
Scott Bacon, Newcastle Port Corporation
Brad Dockrill, Vinsi Partners Consulting Engineers, Newcastle
Exporting over 103 million tonnes per annum, the Port of Newcastle is one of the world’s largest single coal export ports. In addition to coal, the Port handles over 40 different non-coal commodities. Forecasts indicate that Newcastle Port Corporation (NPC) can expect to exceed 180 million tonnes per annum by 2015 in coal trade alone.
Newcastle Port Corporation operates 365 days per year, 24 hours per day. It has 18 operational berths, 7 dedicated to the handling of coal and 11 allocated to the handling of non-coal trade. NPC also owns, operates and maintains 195 navigation aids, 16km of roads, 4.5km of rail, 51 buildings, 2 breakwaters and over 7km of seawalls. Heritage structures near the entrance to the port also fall within the NPC asset register.
The Ports assets are located in an aggressive marine environment so the Corporation is acutely aware of corrosion induced deterioration and the need for corrosion management and maintenance approaches to sustain service lives of structural and building assets.