Capital dredging begins at Port Hedland's Lumsden Point

Jan De Nul has started capital dredging and reclamation works for the development of the Lumsden Point General Cargo Facility and Logistics Hub at Port Hedland, following strict environmental requirements.

The cutter suction dredger J.F.J. De Nul will dredge up to one million cubic metres to establish a deeper access channel, a swing basin, and two berth pockets suitable to navigate and accommodate a range of vessels, including bulk carriers, tankers and Ro-Ro vessels carrying wheeled cargo.

Additionally, an area of 10 hectares, bunded by a seawall, will be reclaimed for the future Lumsden Point wharf structure.

The works are conducted in adherence to a strict "Environmental and Cultural Heritage Management Plan", managing elements like the project footprint, marine environmental quality and surrounding mangroves.

The dredged material will be pumped via a floating pipeline into a designated land reclamation area. Suitable fill material will remain in the reclamation area fine material and tailing water pumped into a silt settlement area three kilometres further away.

This settlement area, constructed during previous projects for this purpose, will allow the fines to settle before surplus tailing water below thresholds is released to the port environment.

During the dredging activities, water quality is monitored continuously. If trigger levels are at risk of exceedance, immediate action is taken to minimise the risk of impacts to the surrounding habitats, such as mangroves, macro algae and corals. Baseline and post-dredge surveys will follow up on any potential impact on the environment.