$55M Berth Upgrade in Townsville Port

Townsville contractor CivilPlus Constructions has been awarded the design and construct tender for the primary wharf works component of Port of Townsville’s $55 million Berth 4 Upgrade project.

Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the announcement was great news for the Townsville economy.

“The upgrade of Berth 4 is one of the $187 million in projects brought forward as part of the Palaszczuk Government’s Accelerated Works Program for North Queensland,” Mr Pitt said.

“This work, which is expected to support 100 jobs and take around 18 months, will be undertaken locally by Townsville's CivilPlus and employ local people.

“Around 60,400 jobs have been created in Queensland since the election and this Government’s focus will remain squarely on seeing the positive employment story continue, especially in North Queensland and other regional areas.

“The sooner we get projects like this off the ground, the sooner we can generate more employment opportunities for Queenslanders.”

The upgrade to Berth 4 will increase capacity at the Port of Townsville to ensure it can accommodate projected trade growth.

Port of Townsville Chief Executive Officer Ranee Crosby said that the quality of tender submissions had been very high and she was pleased that a local business had been successful with its highly competitive bid.

“The upgrade will double the capacity of Berth 4, allowing for an additional two million tonnes of product a year,” Ms Crosby said.

“The upgrade will also improve cargo movement through the use of modern handling equipment and improved intermodal transfer of cargo to road and rail,” she said.

Construction is expected to commence next month, with the upgraded facility expected to start operating in late 2017.