300T Travel Lift at Hervey Bay

This 300T travel lift in Urangan Boat Harbour is the largest in regional Queensland. SMC completed the design and construction of the travel lift, along with associated civil and dredging works.

The brief called for design and construction of a travel lift with the capacity to lift vessels up to 12m beam and a maximum lift capacity of 300T.

The project scope included:

• Demolition of existing slipway and dredge berth pocket to 4m below zero tide
• Design and installation of 60m precast runways on steel piles
• Design and installation of anchored sheet pile wall retaining some 5m of fill
• On-shore piling, ground beams, rock revetment and reinforced pavements.

Design and construction of the rock batters presented a specific set of challenges:

• Rock batter was required to support very high axial loads
• Soft marine sediments posed specific geotechnical challenges
• The geometry was tight to adjoining floating structures requiring a steep batter
• Due to the above constraints, rock needed to be carefully selected and locked together to a high standard
• Toe rocks needed to be very carefully placed in 4m of water
• Very careful core rock and geofabric detailing was required to contain fines and for batter stability.

Client: Murphy’s Slipway