MARINE SAFETY INVESTIGATION REPORT No. 200

6
Townsville
Ships approaching the port of Townsville do so through Cleveland Bay, which is
bound by Cape Cleveland to the east and Magnetic Island to the west. Entrance to,
and departure from, the port is by a single channel about seven miles long. The outer
section of this channel, the Sea Channel, is about 3.5 miles in length on a true heading
of 021.5°/201.5°. The inner section of this channel, Platypus Channel, is 3.5 miles in
length on a true heading of 031.5°/211.5° (see Fig. 2). The approach channel is
dredged to a width of 92 m and the channel markers in Platypus Channel are set
44.0 m outside the toe line. 2
The minimum maintained depth within the approach channel and the harbour is
11.7 m.
FIGURE 2:
Portion of chart Aus 256 showing the approaches to Townsville
Not to be used for navigation
Townsville Harbour is based on Ross Creek, which runs through the southern part of
the city. Two breakwaters, the Eastern and Western Breakwaters, form the seaward
limits of the harbour to the west and northeast and a substantial landfill area forms
the eastern limits (see Fig. 3). There are nine berths in the inner harbour grouped
around the swinging basin. There is one berth located in the outer harbour, about
230 m northeast of the Eastern Breakwater. The depth alongside the container,
general bulk and tanker berths is maintained at 12.2 m.
2
A toe line is the transition line between the charted depth of a channel and the bank.
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