A clean-up had to be undertaken after wild storms bearing hail and damaging wind gusts battered south-east Queensland on Sunday 13th November, with more than 100 shipping containers tossed around at the Port of Brisbane. Gusts at Brisbane Airport peaked at 157km/h, the strongest since 1985 and as powerful as a category 2 cyclone. Hail netting protecting 20,000 cars at the facility also collapsed as the severe conditions damaged buildings and sheds. While runway equipment was blown around and the runway lights went out for a while, Brisbane Airport reports that damage to aircraft was ‘not major.’
Most of the Brisbane Port’s 43 tenants sustained some damage but shipping movements were not disrupted. The majority of the damaged containers were empty and there had been no reports of damage to full containers. By Wednesday, Brisbane stevedores were able to confirm they had the situation under control.
Patrick reported: a ‘considerable’ number of containers had been dislodged from the stacks and several had been damaged. Due to the quick and intense response of the team at the Patrick Brisbane Autostrad terminal and the National Operations Centre, they had returned to business as usual, with vessel operations returning by midnight Sunday, and Receival and Delivery resuming by midday Monday.
Hutchison Ports reports that BCT Yard Operations have been restored and ASC Blocks are up and running.
DP World reported that they were recovering from the damage and Brisbane terminal returned to full operation Monday night, with modules one to eight gradually becoming operational over two days, and import deliveries continuing as the modules became available. Container stacks collapsed at their old yard and in both ASC modules, with damage to some containers. Damage assessments are ongoing.
