NEW REEF ROUTE
Droggies chart shorter safer passage for shipping

The illustration showing the new channel through the Great Barrier Reef. The technology is the same as that which will survey US Coastal waters, This should not be used as a chart

By LCDR John Sperring

A new and safer shipping route within the Great Barrier Reef will be opened in mid 2004.

The new route spans a 90 nautical mile section of the Inner Route of the Great Barrier Reef, about 100Nm north of Princess Charlotte Bay.

Since the 1800s shipping has used the Inner Route, a route that is potentially dangerous because of its confined and shallow waters.

With speculation that a better and shorter route might exist to the east of the Inner Route, the RAN’s Hydrographic Service conducted several surveys during the 1970s and 1980s, which indicated such a route to be extant.

A concerted survey program was conducted after the Navy commissioned the Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) Unit in 1993, supported between 1996 and 2000 by a series of surveys using the Navy’s survey motor launches.

These surveys confirmed the existence of the new passage.

Named LADS Passage and Fairway Channel, the passage will reduce the voyage between Cairns and Cape York by approximately 21Nm. This means a saving (with flow-on savings in bunkering costs) of some 1.5 to 2 hours’ steaming time.

With the surveys completed, the Australian Hydrographic Office produced a consolidated picture of the new route and commenced a series of studies to confirm its viability.

These found it will be a simpler and safer passage, reducing the navigational risk by approximately 30%. The new passage will significantly contribute to the overall protection of the fragile Reef environment.

In September 2002 simulated ‘voyages’ were made through the new passage under various meteorological conditions using the Integrated Marine Simulator at the Australian Maritime College in Launceston, Tasmania. This exercise also validated the robustness and efficacy of the navigation aids planned for the passage.

The simulation established that the new route is safer than the Inner Route, even though it has areas of restricted sea room, especially at the northern end.

Two fast container ships with draughts of 12 metres can safely pass each other in these areas.

Currently the new route is marked with temporary buoys and is open to vessels with a draught of less than 10 metres. Nine fixed navigation aids and five buoys are scheduled to replace them by mid 2004.

The Hydrographic Office will publish a new chart to coincide with the completion of the new aids.

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