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David Sexton - Melbourne
david.sexton@informa.com.au
February 16 2017 - 14:00:00
MASSIVE floods down the Mersey River last year have forced another round of dredging at Devonport, Tasports chief executive Paul Weedon says.
Heavy rain sent huge volumes of water down not only the Mersey River but also the Tamar which runs through Launceston and empties into Bass Strait at Bell Bay.
"(Devonport) is on the river so it suffers significantly when we have major weather events," Mr Weedon told the FTA Tasmanian Shippers Forum.
"All I can say is I'm glad we took the 300,000-odd cubic meters out of the port (Devonport) a few years ago, because the storm we had last year deposited most of it back again," he said.
"We're lining up for another significant investment in dredging, probably next year."
Mr Weedon also touched on the theme of whether Tasmania should have a primary port rather than four smaller operations.
"Sure, if we were starting with a blank sheet of paper, you'd probably only have one port.
"But there is no logical location for that port," he said.
"We've got capacity and in fact we've got excess capacity around the port system so why would you drive rationalisation just for the sake of rationalisation?"
The FTA Tasmanian Shippers Forum was held at the Australian Maritime College in Launceston.