5507 Centenary book 120pptxt

Chapter four
8
Evolution of Botany the Port
Time-line
8 The notion of developing Botany Bay was
taking hold…[there grew] a realisation that
Port Jackson had a limited capacity to handle
the increasing range and volume of seaborne
g o o d s i m p o r t e d t o a n d e x p o r t e d f ro m S y d n e y.
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C a rg o re q u i re d a m p l e t r a c t s o f f o re s h o re
land…not available around Port Jackson.
Evolution of Botany the Port
The changes brought about by technology and the introduction of containerisation
resulted in a fundamental recast in the structure of port development. Old finger
wharves were rendered obsolete as being too confined for increasingly large vessels
and the demand instead was for substantial handling areas. This in turn had an
impact on the face of Sydney, as old wharves became available for redevelopment.
At the same time, mounting activity created pressure on the Port of Sydney itself,
forcing an examination of alternative or additional facilities while also meeting an
ever-increasing need to upgrade to cope with shipping volumes. Just as the Great
Depression of the 1930s had dampened world trade in that decade, the MSB’s plans
during the 1940s were put on hold because of the Second World War. The board’s
post-war development objectives included modernising, extending or renewing
existing wharves and improving the upper reaches of the Parramatta River and
other waterfront areas as sites for industries associated with port activities. Looking
further ahead, MSB was also examining the development, as required, of new areas
for major port facilities.
During the 1950s, as both the volumes of trade and the size of ships increased,
the old finger wharves that were a feature of Sydney’s waterfront were gradually
becoming less and less adequate. They were rebuilt during the 1960s but the
respite was shortlived. The MSB embarked on a ten-year plan to redevelop Darling
Harbour, progressively demolishing the old wharves from its southern end and
replacing them with modern, longshore berths with extensive areas for stacking
cargo and large transit sheds.
Containerisation
The arrival of containers was a radical change, as significant as the shift from sail
to steam vessels. And containerisation happened rapidly. This evolution involved
more than just a different style of vessel; rather, it had a flow-on effect on ports
and surrounding land areas. John Bach, in A Maritime History of Australia, observed:
’The handling and transportation of containers is a vast integrated operation that
extends ideally from factory floor to distributor’s store, involving a complex of land
and sea movements and documentation that calls for all available experience and skill.’
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A particular advantage of containers
is that they reduce the risk of theft of
goods, which had been a big problem
on the Sydney waterfront before the
1960s. Containerised cargo requires less
handling than smaller lots, and this led
to a decline in the number of waterside
workers. Containerisation also brought
a significant reduction in the time a
ship might expect to wait in dock while
goods are loaded and reloaded. In the
1960s a ship could wait for weeks;
with containerisation the turnaround
is achieved in a day or two.
Mounting recognition of the potential
for containers, coupled with the reality
that no single shipping company had
sufficient capital to provide for the
new large container ships, saw shipping
lines amalgamate. This resulted in the
establishment, in the mid-1960s, of
consortium companies such as Overseas
Containers Limited (OCL) and Associated
Container Transportation, later to become
Associated Container Transportation
(Australia) or ACTA. By 1969 ACTA’s first
container ships were arriving in Sydney.
In the year to June 1970, the first full
year of overseas cellular container ships
operating in the Port of Sydney, some
20 per cent of total throughput of
the port was handled in containers.
Evolution of Botany the Port
By 1988, one million containers were
arriving at and departing from Australian
ports every year.
In the early days of containerisation
Seatainer Terminals Limited (STL) and
the federal-government-owned Australian
National Line (ANL) each ran a terminal
at Balmain, with STL at White Bay and
ANL at Mort Bay. Then, in the early
1970s, the MSB built the Glebe Island
container terminal. Mort Bay, however,
struck serious problems. Its water depth
was inadequate and it was accessible
only by roads too narrow to comfortably
accommodate heavily laden trucks.
Local residents, moreover, complained
about the noise created by trucks
operating day and night. The federal
government was keen to move ANL to
Botany Bay. STL‘s site at White Bay
was inadequate, with containers being
stacked six or seven high in a huge
building. STL was forced to rely on a
shuttle train operating between White
Bay and the distant suburb of Chullora
where it ran a satellite operation; when
a ship was ready to load, containers
were brought back by train from Chullora.
John Wallace, president of the Maritime
Services Board from 1975 to 1984, recalls
that the board was hard-pressed to keep
pace with the container boom. He says:
‘OCL said it planned to put
container ships in in two
years and Sydney was not
suitable for containers.
We had to quickly change
plans for Balmain, we
could not develop Botany
Bay in two years, although
a great deal of work had
been done but there was
no way that Botany Bay
could be developed in
time. Balmain (White Bay)
and Glebe Island were
developed to accommodate
containers.’
Containerisation helped change the
face of Sydney’s waterfront. While the
Sydney Port area underwent a major
rationalisation, there was also a notable
increase in the efficiency of the Sydney
Harbour sites that remained in active
port use. This improved efficiency
enables Sydney Harbour to accommodate
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Containerisation brought a significant reduction in the time a ship might expect to wait in dock
while goods are loaded and reloaded. Above, a Sydney Ports fire tug is at work in Port Botany,
in the early 1990s.
Chapter four
Evolution of Botany the Port
approximately the same amount of cargo each year as in the mid-1960s, when there
was almost three times as much berth length in the Port. The long-term, continued
operation of Port facilities in Sydney Harbour, especially at White Bay and Glebe
Island, is vital not only in terms of the economic wellbeing of Sydney, but also in terms
of the identity of the harbour in the minds of Sydneysiders and Australians generally.
And with trade flows forecast to double by 2019–2020, Sydney’s Ports are increasingly
under pressure to accommodate further development. Sydney has a real shortage
of deep-water port sites for Port development to meet the demands of trade. Both
Sydney Harbour and Port Botany – together identifed as Sydney’s Ports in terms of
planning – are required to meet existing needs.
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Cargo ships at Port Botany in the 1990s.
Bound for Botany Bay
Named by Captain James Cook in 1770 for its arresting flora, Botany Bay – which Cook
deemed a safe and convenient harbour – was nevertheless rejected some eighteen
years later by Captain Phillip in favour of Sydney Cove. Phillip commented that Botany
Bay was extensive but did not afford shelter to ships from the easterly wind, and
was too shallow. Its lack of deep water and exposure to ocean swells left Botany
Bay virtually ignored for much of the following two hundred years, despite its location
a mere eleven kilometres from the centre of Sydney and its proximity to residential
and industrial areas.
The genesis of Botany Bay’s development predates the advent of containerisation.
A view emerging from the late 1940s was that the proliferation of oil company
installations around the Sydney Harbour foreshore – for example, at Berry’s Bay,
Rozelle Bay and White Bay – threatened the safety of Sydney residents. In 1947 the
New South Wales government introduced a policy which reflected a desire to separate
oil installations from residential areas.
Two influences hastened the adoption of the policy. The government was under
pressure to allow Boral (Bitumen Oil Refinery Aust Ltd) to build a refinery close to
Sydney. Also, at the time the government was developing the first true planning
scheme for Sydney (the County of Cumberland Planning Scheme), a document that
contained considerable comment about the need to move hazardous industries away
from Sydney Harbour.
Oil companies were already a feature of Botany Bay, which for many years had
handled only bulk oil and petroleum products. The oil company H.C. Sleigh established
a terminal there in 1930 and brought cargoes of motor fuel ashore by barge from
ships moored in the bay. In 1948 Boral established a refinery at Matraville, on the
northern side of Botany Bay, and others followed. More pipelines and moorings
were installed. Anglo United Petroleum built a storage terminal and a major refinery
was completed by Australian Oil Refinery (AOR, later Caltex) in 1956 at Kurnell, on
the southern shore of the bay. AOR’s facilities were extended in 1960 by additional
dredging. To cope with the growing volume of shipping, compulsory pilotage services
were introduced in 1955 and a harbourmaster appointed. By 1956–57 significant
quantities of oil imports had been diverted from Sydney to Botany Bay.
The notion of developing Botany Bay was taking hold. When Caltex built its refinery
and tank farm, it used land reclaimed from the shoreline of Botany Bay. This prompted
further thinking by Botany Municipal Council, which devised a plan to build a clay
‘wall’ in the shallows of the bay’s northern shore, fill the area behind with local
refuse and soil and offer the newly created land to industries, which favoured the
area because of its ready access to water. Land reclamation was to be a major feature
of the development of Port Botany.
Pressure for the development of Botany Bay was also coming from a realisation that
Port Jackson had a limited capacity to handle the increasing range and volume of
seaborne goods imported to and exported from Sydney. Cargo required ample tracts
of foreshore land for handling and stacking areas, which were not available around
Port Jackson, with its steep sides and limited foreshore land. Bulk cargo vessels
and oil tankers were growing bigger, thanks to advances in the technology of ship
construction. Improvements in the methods of handling bulk cargoes meant larger
and larger loads. The MSB was acutely aware that if Sydney were to keep pace with
worldwide changes in sea transport, port facilities would have to be expanded.
After a study of potential areas on the New South Wales coast Botany Bay was
judged the only site suitable for major port facilities. Botany Bay could provide
substantial tracts of flat land created by reclaiming areas of the shallow foreshore,
using sand dredged from the bay.
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Botany in the mid-1970s after the bay had been
developed – land reclamation was a major feature
of the creation of Port Botany.
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Evolution of Botany the Port
Proposed development scheme for Botany Bay, shown here about 1975. Pressure was mounted from
several quarters to develop Botany Bay.
When Botany Council devised its plan
to reclaim land from the bay, the idea
intrigued the state government, which
established a committee chaired by
Athol Ford, a senior officer in the
Department of Public Works, to examine
the plan. The Land Reclamation Committee
produced a report in 1956–57 that
included only one dissenting voice,
that of Athol Ford. The others considered
the proposal a good idea, although they
were not enthusiastic about using
garbage as fill.
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1. Container terminals
2. Covered dry bulk area
3. Covered coal storage area
4. Bulk liquid storage
5. Coal loader berth
6. Bulk liquids berth
7. V.L.C.C. berth
8. Foreshore road
9. 20 hectares of new parkland
The MSB’s representative on the
committee was its harbourmaster for
Botany Bay. He could see that relocating
industry on a large scale to Botany
would result in considerable demand for
wharves. The concept of a fully-fledged
industrial port at Botany Bay was
gathering momentum. The MSB could
see new life for some of the ideas of the
1930s that had not come to fruition,
such as taking charge of all the ports
in New South Wales. At that time the
bed of Botany Bay came under the
Department of Lands, while building
around the bay entailed dealing with
the Department of Public Works. The
MSB approached the government and
argued its case to take over Botany Bay
and the port of Newcastle, and in 1961
it did so, with a particular brief to
develop Botany Bay as an industrial
port for manufacturing and industry.
Port Jackson would remain a commercial
port handling general trade.
Planning for Port Botany intensified with
the appointment in 1963 of Hydraulics
Research Station, a UK government
organisation, to advise on the technical
and scientific aspects of the development
proposals, including dredging and
studying the effect of breakwaters on
wave heights in the bay. John Wallace,
then engineer-in-chief, recalls that
initially bores were drilled over the
whole area to establish the depths
and grain size of the sand. He says:
‘That took some three
to six months, then
we seeded the bay with
radioactive sand and
followed it to determine
where and how the sand
was moving. That took
another eighteen months.
We had to keep a close
watch because if, for
example, someone caught
a crab that could be a
problem as crabs ingest
sand. Fish don’t eat
sand. The British Atomic
Energy Commission had
developed the technique.
Having traced the
movement of sand in
the bay, we knew what
was occurring in the
sand – the wave action
lifted the sand and
deposited it back, so
that the sand did not
move any great distance.’
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Evolution of Botany the Port
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A Sydney Harbour tug manoeuvres a cargo ship towards its berth. By the early 1900s steamships had come to dominate,
their speed and reliability outmatching those of the sailing vessels that had ruled the oceans.
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Evolution of Botany the Port
Bulk liquids berth, September 2000. Oil companies had long been a feature of the Botany Bay
shoreline. The first berth at the new Port Botany, for bulk liquids, opened in 1979.
was to substantially reduce import
tariffs on a range of items. Sydney, as
Australia’s leading port, was suddenly
handling a flood of imports at a time
when it was also coping with the
emerging demands of containerised
shipping. The port was bursting at the
seams. Meanwhile, industry had not
flocked to Botany Bay as had been
anticipated. A logical change of plan
was to allocate new areas at the bay for
container ships. Botany Bay might not
appeal to industry but it could certainly
accommodate containers.
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Botany Bay is said to be the first port development in the world to use specially
designed large-scale configuration dredging to protect a port area from waves.
The MSB’s plans for the bay secured state government approval in March 1969 and
the board set about turning its scheme into reality, initiating preliminary design
work, dredging channels and port basins and recording ocean wave movements.
In March 1971 a key contract was awarded to construction companies to dredge the
port approach channel and part of the initial port basin and to start land reclamation.
The contract involved dredging 13 million cubic metres of sand.
Meanwhile, in December 1972, the Australian Labor Party won federal office with
Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister. One of the Whitlam government’s first actions
But the saga of developing Botany Bay
had not yet run its course. A change in
state government came after Sir Robert
Askin retired in 1975, having served for
ten years as state premier. In May 1976
the new government, led by premier
Neville Wran, announced that most of
the development works at Port Botany
would be suspended while a public
inquiry was held into all aspects of
the project. Wran said in the following
month that S.H. Simblist QC would
conduct the inquiry. His terms of
reference included ‘having regard to
existing and planned port developments
on the northern foreshore of Botany
Bay and environmental studies already
completed: to inquire into the role of
the port in terms of the needs of NSW,
to inquire into the environmental
impact, including social and economic
aspects of existing and planned projects
within the port development and to
make recommendations on the future
of the planned port development and,
if necessary, make alternative proposals.’
The Simblist report was submitted in
November 1976 and contained a number
of recommendations and conclusions:
‘unless there was to
be a disruption in the
commercial activities
of Sydney, additional
and more efficient port
facilities were required
to supplement those
in Port Jackson.
Port Botany offered the
most suitable location
for this development;
the proposed bulk liquid
chemical storage
development should be
brought to completion
without delay; Port
Jackson was not capable
of handling future
container trade in
an efficient manner
and the proposed
Port Botany container
terminals should proceed,
with careful consideration
being given to minimising
the impacts on the
environment;’
Simblist also recommended reconsideration
of whether to locate coal-handling
installations at Botany Bay as had been
planned. Coal is not attractive cargo to
handle. It needs to be moved by train,
it is black and dirty and it produces coal
dust. As a result, it was proposed that
coal be handled at Port Kembla. Grain
also went to Port Kembla. The notion of
locating the oil industry in a concentration
of new facilities at Botany Bay was well
received, especially as ships could be
berthed with minimum risk of oil spills,
which could endanger oyster beds.
The report also contained recommendations
for the construction of roadworks and
various issues to protect the environment.
A month after submitting the report,
Simblist was appointed a judge of the
District Court but, before taking up the
appointment, he died suddenly. Simblist
Road at Port Botany was named in
his memory.
The premier announced in January 1977
that the government would approve the
MSB’s scheme for two container terminals
and a bulk liquids storage development.
Approval was also given for certain
roads to be built in surrounding areas;
this would alleviate local residents’
concerns about port-related traffic.
In February 1978 an agreement to lease
the southern container terminal at
Port Botany was signed by Container
Terminals Australia Ltd (CTAL), an
organisation formed by eight major
shipping companies including Overseas
Containers Australia Ltd, at the time
operating container shipping services
in Port Jackson.
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The vision of Botany Bay as a world-class
port moved a step closer to reality in
April 1979 when the Deputy Premier
of New South Wales, Jack Ferguson,
Minister for Public Works and Minister
for Ports, officially opened the $2 million
bulk liquids berth. Ferguson said:
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‘The development of Botany Bay as
Sydney’s second major port has been
a pioneering exercise in the concept
of government and community working
together to ensure that the needs and
interests of both can harmonise for the
common benefit… To its credit, the
Maritime Services Board has taken some
considerable steps to ensure that the
local environment should benefit rather
than suffer from the development.
‘There has been an obvious need for
some time for expansion of Sydney’s
port facilities because of the already
intense development of Port Jackson.
The physical limitations imposed by the
configuration of the waterways of Port
Jackson have meant that it has a limited
capacity to handle the range and volume
of sea cargoes which must be imported
to and exported from the Sydney region.’
MSB president John Wallace told the
200 guests attending the ceremony that
the opening of the berth ‘marked the
Evolution of Botany the Port
first step in the culmination of some
sixteen years of investigation, planning
and construction of what we believe will
be the most modern port complex in
Australia’. He said:
However, the Board
recognised in the mid1960s that the extent
of commercial, residential
‘The patterns of shipping and industrial development
and cargo handling
adjoining Port Jackson
throughout the world have limited the potential for
changed significantly
providing modern port
during the past ten
facilities and, in view
years, and most ports
of this, in March 1969,
have had to improve
just ten years ago, the
their facilities to
government approved
meet the changing
the Board’s proposals
requirements. The Board for the development of
has re-developed a large a port on the northern
part of Sydney’s wharfage foreshore of Botany Bay.’
to meet these demands,
The MSB’s internal newsletter,
and it intends to continue All A’board, reported in its December
1979 issue that Port Botany had
with this policy in all
arrived. ‘Eighteen years in the making.
areas suitable for
One hundred and fifty million dollars
worth. The biggest construction project
converting to modern
to be completed in the state this year.
shipping terminals.
The most modern container port in
Australia – possibly in the world.
Certainly one of the biggest and
best in the Southern Hemisphere.
The superlatives go on and on…
on 10 December Premier Neville Wran
officially commissioned Brotherson
Dock, [named after the late William
Brotherson, immediate past-president
of the MSB] and The Australian National
Line terminal was opened by the Federal
Minister for Transport, Peter Nixon… ‘
ANL’s multi-user container terminal was
capable of servicing the largest container
ships and vehicle deck vessels operating
in Australian overseas and coastal
trade. With 1,000 metres of wharfage
and three berths, each served by a
shore-based stern ramp for roll-on/
roll-off cargo-handling, the terminal
also had three 35-tonne rail-mounted
gantry cranes, with a fourth 25-tonne
capacity crane available at another
berth. Containers within the terminals
would be moved by forklifts, tractor-and
-trailer-combinations and transtainers
linked by radio to a central control tower.
Botany Bay, after considerable
sophisticated dredging, became
Australia’s deepest port. As John Bach
wrote, the techniques used reduced
‘the force of the seas rolling in from
the ocean by gradually spreading their
line of progress in a fan-like pattern,
so that they dissipate their strength all
around the bay rather than concentrating
their force on the shore immediately
opposite the entrance.’
Impressive though these engineering
achievements were – along with the
extension at Sydney airport – they
were not spared the opposition of
environmental groups. Critics claimed
the developments were causing beach
erosion damage and harming fish
stocks, oysters and the seagrass beds,
which are a crucial breeding ground
for fish and prawns.
How the bay was built
After approval was given to develop
Botany Bay as an ancillary port, a
hydraulic model was built on the
foreshore to simulate the wave and
current action of the waters in the bay.
Studies were made of the effects of
wave action on various planned port
and airport developments. The model,
occupying almost 7,000 square metres
and holding a million litres of water,
was one of the largest of its kind. It
remained in use until 1991, when the
site was sold to the Federal Airports
Corporation.
Development of the new port and
industrial complex on the northern
foreshores of Botany Bay took place in
stages. The first involved dredging the
main entrance to a depth of 21 metres,
reclaiming 121 hectares, and building
a 1.7-kilometre armoured embankment
into the bay from Bumborah Point.
In the second stage, completed in 1981,
further dredging and reclamation was
undertaken and two kilometres of wharf
built, forming six berths for two container
terminals. These terminals were named
Brotherson Dock in honour of Bill
Brotherson, president of MSB from 1965
until his untimely death at the age of
57 in 1975. The development of Botany
Bay, which more than doubled Sydney’s
container handling capacity, was the
largest port development carried out
in Australia at the time.
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