The $1 billion expansion of container facilities at Port Botany has reached a significant phase with the laying of concrete “counterforts” which will form the face of the third terminal’s 1850 metre long wharf.

Today more than two hundred 20-metre high concrete sections known as counterfort wall units are being constructed on site before being taken by barge onto Botany Bay and lowered into place.

These sections are seven storeys high and the contractors have successfully placed ten of them in the water with another 206 to go.

This new phase of the program will see one of these counterforts placed in the Bay every day, a massive engineering feat given each section weighs 640 tonnes.

The concrete counterforts will form the 1.8 km of new wharf face against which ships will berth when the terminal is completed in 2011. The outer wall will consist of 199 counterfort sections with an additional 17 counterfort units used for the tug wharves.

The giant concrete blocks are being constructed on site via the use of a concrete batching plant to reduce the impact of trucking movements on the local community.

Once completed, each unit is transported to a temporary wharf, taken by barge to its final location and lowered onto a compacted sand and gravel bed.

The Port Botany expansion is a $1 billion dollar economic investment and one of the most extensive port infrastructure projects in Australia.

The Government will invest over $260 million in the terminal project this financial year as construction hits peak levels.

Work at the new 63 hectare terminal has created more than 400 on-site construction jobs. It’s estimated once fully operational, the expanded capacity will boost the state’s economy by $16 billion over the next 20 years and deliver some 9000 new jobs.

The new terminal will provide additional capacity to meet projected long-term trade growth for Sydney and provide better access to shipping lines for the state’s exporters.

Port Botany is the State’s premier port and Sydney Ports Corporation continues to invest in new and improved port infrastructure to secure future container trade growth in New South Wales.

Sydney’s ports handle more than $50 billion in international and domestic trade each year, with around $40 billion through Port Botany.

Port Botany currently handles a third of Australia’s container traffic. In 2008-09 Sydney Ports posted its eighth consecutive year of record container growth when the port handled 1.784 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units).

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