Tale of two ports

OVER the next 10 years the Townsville shipping channel will be expanded to increase trade and tourism by having more than 11 million cubic metres dredged. The project will cost more than $1.6 billion.

A further 152ha of sea will be reclaimed to increase port land.

By comparison, the Cairns Port expansion project is reduced to a million cubic metres, costing $120 million.

The much smaller project will not allow the Voyager class of cruise ship to enter the port. Once the smaller project is completed in 2019, all future channel expansion work is banned. This is an economic cap on the region’s growth.

Both ports adjoin the Great Barrier Reef, but the Townsville port area has been removed from the marine park. In April 2016, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority determined that the Port of Townsville does not include activities (dredging) within the marine park and does not require a marine park permit. Cairns Port does require a permit.

Port of Townsville Ltd should be congratulated on its investment into regional and state economic growth. Emma Thirkell, secretary, Cairns Port Development Inc. 1793: Austria and Prussia sign alliance

against France. 1964: Thousands of screaming fans in New York greet The Beatles at the start of their first US American tour. 1971: Women in Switzerland win the

right to vote. 1974: Britain grants independence to

small Caribbean island of Grenada. 1984: Space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart go on the first untethered space walk. 2008: Journalist and TV host Ray Martin (above) resigns after 30 years with the Nine Network. 2009: The “Black Saturday” bushfires sweep Victoria, killing 173 people and destroying 2000 homes. 2016: Two people are killed and 10 others are injured in a shooting outside an Orlando, Florida, nightclub.