Dampier’s first floating deck is expected to be commissioned in early January 2014

One port which has created its own solution is the Dampier Port Authority in West Australia, where chief operating officer Captain Paul Toussaint-Jackson has devised a floating deck transhipment system featuring a deck which moves back and forth between landside facilities and large ships at anchor in deeper water, taking vessel draught out of the equation as an operational issue.

Vessels exchange cargo using ramps or cranes directly on to a floating deck of about half a hectare in area. The deck is then moved by tugs (or can be fitted with its own motors) to a purpose-built landside facility, and cargo transferred by mobile cranes, forklifts, top loaders or multi-axle trailers. Access to and from the floating deck from the landside facility is via a heavy vehicle ramp.

The landside facility will be at least one hectare with a dedicated quarantine wash-down facility and a customs-licensed depot. Additional decks can be added at short notice if there is additional cargo demand.

Captain Toussaint-Jackson saysthat the floating deck transhipment system would have a big impact on the region by enabling internationally-networked large cargo liner shipping vessels to call at the Pilbara for the first time. Until now, the region has suffered by relying on long-distance transhipment of large oversize cargo loads by road. Dampier’s first floating deck is expected to be commissioned in early January 2014.