Emu Bay was developed to provide port services to the inland tracts of land. Since the mid-late nineteenth century the Port has evolved and developed as one of Tasmania’s and Australia’s most important deepwater ports. Burnie is Tasmania’s largest port, handling over 4 million tonnes of freight and 55% of Tasmania’s container task.
Burnie owes its very existence to its port. The Van Diemen's Land Company chose this as the location for a settlement to service its vast inland tracts of land. Although the Hampshire and Surrey Hills failed to deliver wealth from wool, the coastal port was to eventually grow into one of Australia’s most important. The Port has experienced almost continued development and expansion since the mid-nineteenth century.
From the 1830s small sailing ships dropped anchor in Emu Bay until suitable weather allowed them to approach a flat rock (now covered, by McGaw Pier) to unload their cargo. Passengers were put ashore in a basket or small boats. The first jetty was built in 1883 by public contributions, including £200 from the V.D.L. Co., headquarters of which were then at Stanley. In 1882 the Government provided £5000 to extend the jetty, and later increased the amount to £9,000.
In 1881 a report by Capt. Stanley emphasised the advantages of Burnie as a deepwater port. In 1899 the V.D.L. Co. gave the Marine Board land for the construction of a breakwater (now converted into McGaw Pier). The present breakwater followed later. The next big step in port development was the con - struction of Ocean Pier (completed in 1918). It turned one of the worst ports into one of the best, and the only deep-water port in the North.
Jones Pier (right), 1919
Key events in the history of the place include:
c.1829-30: construction of a wooden store and a small log crib jetty at Blackman’s Point.
1873: Construction of Iron Girder jetty.
1885: Works commence on 700 foot breakwater (Emu Pier, and later known as McGaw Pier) extension to the jetty, to service the mining developments of Mt Bischoff.
1901: Construction of the 600 foot wooden Jones Pier.
1910: Annual trade through the Port had reached early 70,000 tons by 1910.
Concrete blocks for the new breakwater
Laying in its place a 60 ton concrete block on the breakwater extension at Burnie
1918: Construction of new concrete block breakwater extending 1250 feet into the Bay.
1921: Construction of 630 foot Ocean Pier.
1964-65: Construction of the Island Breakwater. 1600 feet in length at a cost of over $6 million.
1960s-70s: Major redevelopment of the Port with dredging and reconstruction of the piers, including reclamation of almost 30 hectares of land.
Burnie Port is Tasmania's largest general cargo port and was once Australia's fifth largest container port. It is the nearest Tasmanian port to Melbourne and the Australian mainland. As with other ports in Tasmania, it is operated by the government owned TasPorts.
The Port of Burnie currently operates as a container port with a separate terminal for the exportation of woodchips. It was planned to be expanded in 2013 so that it could accommodate extra freight from the proposed north-west mines in the Tarkine.
The port is situated on the western shore of Emu Bay and has easy access. The Bay is two miles wide and one mile deep facing in a northerly direction.The bottomis sand and clay interspersed with patches of reef and rock particularlyin the south eastern sector of the Bay. The principal danger off the port is Blackman Reef, with shallow water extending one mile seaward from the western shore of the Bay.
The port is protected by two breakwaters. The inner, founded at the inner end of Blackman Reef, lies in a110 degrees directionand is 381 metreslong. The other is an island structure and lies in a 130 degrees directionand is 488 metres long. It has deep water with 10.0 metres in the approaches to the berths. The diameter of the swinging basin is 460 metres. There is no restrictionon night movements. Pilotage is compulsory for vessels over 35 metres in length.
Freight and Cruise shipping schedule
The port processes bulk freight including fuels, minerals, woodchips and logs. Containerised consumables are also handled there, as well as exports of forest products. The port also deals with breakbulk and project cargo.
Burnie Port is a bulk port, so handles items that are being exported and imported on a large scale without being packaged up. One example of this is the Tasmanian woodchips that are exported as a bulk commodity from Burnie. Bulk cargo comes in either liquid or granular form, or as a mass of small solids. Instead of being placed into containers, boxes or bags for transit, it’s typically dropped (solids) or poured (liquids) straight into a freighter ship.
The Port of Burnie handles breakbulk cargo as well as bulk consignments. The term ‘breakbulk’ refers to freight that is loaded individually onto a ship instead rather than being transferred on in a shipping container. Breakbulk freight might be driven or towed onto RoRo (roll-on roll-off) vessels, or placed in boxes, drums, bags, barrels or crates to be lifted on with a crane. This type of cargo includes motorised vehicles (e.g. cars, lorries and tractors), cargo that can be rolled on a ship with a trailer (e.g. yachts, caravans and rolling heavy plant equipment, agriculture machinery (e.g. verge cutters and fertiliser spreaders) and mining equipment (such as conveyor belts, drilling rigs and mine roof supports).
The City of Burnie has a 20-year history in providing a world-class meet-and-greet service to the cruise ship industry. Building on a single visit in 1999, Burnie now welcomes more than 30 ships a season. Cruise ship visitation has developed into an integral and valuable part of the region’s tourism economy, dispersing passengers and crew within Burnie and north-west Tasmania.
In response to COVID-19, on 15 March 2020 the Tasmanian Government suspended cruise ship operations in Tasmanian waters through until 30 June 2020. At this time, a further review is planned to be undertaken. Cruise ships returned to Burnie in November 2022 for the 2020-2021 season.
Empress of Australia was a ferry operated by the Australian National Line which visited Burnie regularly between January 1965 and 1972. Ordered in 1962 by the Australian National Line and launched by Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company on 18 January 1964, Empress of Australia was the largest passenger ferry built in the world.
From the time of her 16 January 1965 maiden voyage, the ship could carry up to 250 passengers in cabins, 91 cars, 16 trucks, and 160 intermodal containers. The ferry made three runs from Sydney to Tasmania every fortnight until 1972; one each to Hobart, Bell Bay and Burnie.
In 1972, the ship was transferred to the Melbourne to Tasmania route, replacing MS Princess of Tasmania. She was modified at the State Dockyard: the installation of 190 reclining seats in the original lounge increased her passenger capacity to 440, and a deck was added at the aft end. Empress of Australia began sailing between Melbourne and Devonport on 28 June 1972, and continued making Bass Strait crossings until 1986.
Empress of Australia was replaced in 1986 by Abel Tasman, also a car ferry. The ship was sold to Cypriot owners and heavily refitted and converted into a cruise ship, she was renamed Royal Pacific. On 23 August 1992, she was rammed by the Taiwanese fishing vessel Terfu 51 in the Straits of Malacca, and sank, sending thirty people to their deaths. The deaths are most likely attributed to the crew's choice to abandon ship first.
RMS Strathaird visited Burnie in the 1930s while cruising out of Sydney.
Toll’s 700 TEU ships Tasmanian Achiever II and Victorian Reliance II have been servicing the Bass Strait trade at the beginning of March, 2019. The twoships are the largest RoRos ever used for domestic trade outside of Europe and the United States and have the largest reefer capacity of any short-sea RoRo vessel.
They measure 210 metres in length, have 3,500 metres of lane traffic, 260 reefer points on power at any time and the capacity to carry an additional 40 per cent in trailers, containers and refrigerated goods than the ships previously in service for Toll. Purpose-built for the Bass Strait trade, the ships have three decks, a car tween deck, wide fixed ramps to upper and cellar decks and enhanced technology for environmental management, ship navigation and crew safety.
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