The navigation simulations show that vessels On the basis of these simulations, a 14,000 TEU up to about 14,000 TEU can safely transit the ship would be a reasonable future design vessel for Heads, if they time their transit for the low Bay West, although it may be many years before current period around slack water. As vessels these vessels come to Melbourne see the – get larger, the length of the window around discussion of ship size and future fleet forecast slack water that the vessel can safely access below. Although access is restricted to certain tidal the Heads becomes smaller. Figure 8 shows conditions, this is not unusual. Many ports have the vessel tracks of the 14,000 TEU ship in the similar restrictions including Fremantle and simulator for multiple successful transits of the Brisbane, where deep draught ships cannot access Heads. the port at low tide. A number of simulations were carried out to test Although we have carried out ship simulations with the effects of deepening or widening the Great a deepened and/or widened channel through the Ship Channel. These showed that enlarging the Heads, we are not recommending that any dredging channel did allow larger ships to transit, but in the Heads is required at this stage, and this they were still restricted to the low current dredging may never be needed. If in the future the window around slack water. Given the nature of option to expand the channel through the Heads the Heads we think that even with channel was considered then more detailed studies would upgrades, access for large ships will always be be required to assess the environmental and social constrained to certain tidal windows around impact. These issues are discussed further slack water. in the Bay West Potential environmental and – social impacts section. Figure 8. Vessel tracks for successful transits of Port Phillip Heads by 14,000 TEU MSC Daniela in ship simulator Source: AECOM, Infrastructure Victoria Second Container Port Advice Navigation Study, 2017 –
The navigation simulations show that vessels up to about 14,000 TEU can safely transit the Heads, if they time their transit for the low current period around slack water. As vessels get larger, the length of the window around slack water that the vessel can safely access the Heads becomes smaller. Figure 8 shows the vessel tracks of the 14,000 TEU ship in the simulator for multiple successful transits of the Heads. A number of simulations were carried out to test the effects of deepening or widening the Great Ship Channel. These showed that enlarging the channel did allow larger ships to transit, but they were still restricted to the low current window around slack water. Given the nature of the Heads we think that even with channel upgrades, access for large ships will always be constrained to certain tidal windows around slack water. On the basis of these simulations, a 14,000 TEU ship would be a reasonable future design vessel for Bay West, although it may be many years before these vessels come to Melbourne – see the discussion of ship size and future fleet forecast below. Although access is restricted to certain tidal conditions, this is not unusual. Many ports have similar restrictions including Fremantle and Brisbane, where deep draught ships cannot access the port at low tide. Although we have carried out ship simulations with a deepened and/or widened channel through the Heads, we are not recommending that any dredging in the Heads is required at this stage, and this dredging may never be needed. If in the future the option to expand the channel through the Heads was considered then more detailed studies would be required to assess the environmental and social impact. These issues are discussed further in the Bay West – Potential environmental and social impacts section. Figure 8. Vessel tracks for successful transits of Port Phillip Heads by 14,000 TEU MSC Daniela in ship simulator Source: AECOM, Infrastructure Victoria Second Container Port Advice – Navigation Study, 2017
Advice%20on%20securing%20Victoria's%20ports%20-%20accessible%20version%20-%20FINAL.docx