Relevant ship anchorage management options for the Port of Abbot Point The possible future relevance of the identified ship anchorage management options specifically for the Port of Abbot Point was considered with regard to four criteria: Possible economic and commercial impacts Possible environmental impacts with the goal of achieving net environmental gains Possible ship safety and emergency response impacts Possible other user and social impacts. An overview of the results of the examination for the Port of Abbot Point are contained in table 54. Ship anchorage at the Port of Abbot Point was considered to be typical of a single commodity coal export port. It was noted that part of the current anchorage area is inside of the port limits and anchorage drop points are undesignated. The expected relatively significant growth in future ship calls (around 11 per cent per year, refer to section 4.7.3) at the Port of Abbot Point was considered to support improving current anchorage practices by implementing designated anchorage areas. The option of scheduled arrivals with designated anchorages was also considered to be relevant. However, there is some discussion that scheduled arrivals may possibly result in ships idling more at sea and/or anchoring elsewhere than if more designated anchorages were provided. The current practices of ship anchoring with the current size of port operations were considered to have minimal impact for the environment and other users beyond that which has already occurred. Ship safety and the ability to rapidly respond to any maritime incident are considered to be excellent under existing arrangements given the close proximity of the main anchorage area to the port. Environmental and economic benefits may, however, be realised if anchorage areas were designated at this port. In conclusion, current practices with designated anchorage areas as a future improvement and possibly scheduled ship arrivals if and when anchorage demand dictates, were envisaged as relevant anchorage management options in the future for the Port of Abbot Point.
Relevant ship anchorage management options for the Port of Abbot Point The possible future relevance of the identified ship anchorage management options specifically for the Port of Abbot Point was considered with regard to four criteria: Possible economic and commercial impacts Possible environmental impacts with the goal of achieving net environmental gains Possible ship safety and emergency response impacts Possible other user and social impacts. An overview of the results of the examination for the Port of Abbot Point are contained in table 54. Ship anchorage at the Port of Abbot Point was considered to be typical of a single commodity coal export port. It was noted that part of the current anchorage area is inside of the port limits and anchorage drop points are undesignated. The expected relatively significant growth in future ship calls (around 11 per cent per year, refer to section 4.7.3) at the Port of Abbot Point was considered to support improving current anchorage practices by implementing designated anchorage areas. The option of scheduled arrivals with designated anchorages was also considered to be relevant. However, there is some discussion that scheduled arrivals may possibly result in ships idling more at sea and/or anchoring elsewhere than if more designated anchorages were provided. The current practices of ship anchoring with the current size of port operations were considered to have minimal impact for the environment and other users beyond that which has already occurred. Ship safety and the ability to rapidly respond to any maritime incident are considered to be excellent under existing arrangements given the close proximity of the main anchorage area to the port. Environmental and economic benefits may, however, be realised if anchorage areas were designated at this port. In conclusion, current practices with designated anchorage areas as a future improvement and possibly scheduled ship arrivals if and when anchorage demand dictates, were envisaged as relevant anchorage management options in the future for the Port of Abbot Point.
gbr-anchorage-management-appendixb.docx