Floods force Brisbane port closure

Maritime Safety Queensland shut the port on Tuesday as river levels swelled.

While the port said in a statement that there was “no inundation on port lands” as of Wednesday, the port is to remain closed until flood waters recede, debris is removed and channels and berths have been re-surveyed.

The port said that this “may take some days to complete”. There are concerns that power outages will further disrupt operations.

All ships have been removed from the port and are anchored off the coast, where they will spend at least 22 days waiting to load. Over 50 shipping lines currently service the Port of Brisbane and during 2009/2010, the port recorded over 2,400 commercial ship visits.

Queensland Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said Bremer River at Ipswich and the Brisbane River were expected to peak at or above the levels of the devastating 1974 floods.
Other east and south coast ports could benefit from diverted traffic from the flood-hit northern state, with Sydney and Melbourne ports likely to gain the most.

Elsewhere in Australia, Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal has been exporting coal at about 60% of normal volumes this month, according to the port. So far in January, the terminal has shipped out about 1.5m tonnes of coal, about 60% of the 2.5m tonnes it would ship out when not affected by flooding at inland mines.