Melbourne's status as Australia's largest and most competitive container port will be cemented when a major dredging project is completed later this year, the state government says.
But environmental activists are asking at what cost.
The bulk of the controversial channel deepening project is over and from Thursday larger ships, carrying heavier loads, will be able to access the port.
Almost 23 million cubic metres of sand, silt and toxic sludge have been gouged from the bay - the equivalent of an area 13 times the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The $1 billion project has increased the depth of Melbourne's shipping channels from 11.6 metres to 12.1 metres.
A total depth of 14 metres will be achieved when dredging is completed in December.
Victorian Premier John Brumby said the boosted capacity would cut the cost of trade and enable Victoria to retain its competitive advantage over Sydney and Brisbane.
Currently, 62 per cent of ships docking in Melbourne were under-loaded because of draught constraints.
"The whole purpose of channel deepening is to enable those ships to load to full or near capacity, to drive improvements and efficiency, to drive cheaper freight, to drive trade and investment between Melbourne, Victoria and the rest of the world," Mr Brumby said.
He trumpeted the project as a triumph against critics who said dredging would ruin Port Phillip Bay.
But protesters, who fought a long campaign against it in the courts, say the bay will never recover.
"The impacts of this project are likely to be long term ... I don't think there's much doubt about that," Blue Wedges protest spokeswoman Jenny Warfe told AAP.
Fish stocks would be down for the next three to five years and turbidity would linger long after the dredger had moved on.
Ms Warfe said the global financial crisis had scuppered the economic case for the project, which was predicated on five per cent growth in container traffic annually over the next 30 years.
The port failed to reach those targets for the last two years, she said.
"Aside from the environmental issues there's a big economic question mark over the project," she said.
The government says the project, which began in February last year, has satisfied the strictest environmental standards.
Ports Minister Tim Pallas said environmental monitoring would continue long after the dredging was over.
He said the project was expected to come in under budget but it was too early to reveal by how much.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Vic govt defends port dredging project
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