The shipping platform

Location: Weipa is a bauxite exporting port in Albatross Bay, on the NW coast of Cape York Peninsula, northern Queensland. General overview: The port is designed for handling very large quantities of bauxite for export. A small amount of petroleum products are imported for local consumption. Traffic figures: Approx 440 vessels and 22,112,000t of cargo handled annually. Load line zone: South Pacific Seasonal Tropical Area, Tropical Apr 1 to Nov 30, Summer Dec 1 to Mar 31. Max size: Lorim Point Export Berths: The limiting dimensions for bulk carriers allowed to use the port has been laid down by the Queensland Government as LOA 255.20m and 35.39m extreme beam. Humbug general cargo berth: Vessels are restricted to LOA 137.16m. Evans Landing Berth: Vessels are restricted to LOA 191.11m. The min draught of vessels is 2% of vessels length forward and propeller fully submerged aft. The max draught of vessels will depend upon the circumstances pertaining at the time, such as height of tide, state of sea and weather and depth of channel and berth. It is expected that with tidal assistance vessels can sail with a draught of at least 11.73m once every 24 hours. Siltation occurs regularly and vessels will be advised of the max permissible sailing draught prior to commencement of loading at Weipa. In normal circumstances the max draught of a vessel is as follows: Channel depth, plus tide, minus UKC 1.2m. Largest vessels handled: "River Boyne" and "River Embley", 51,035GT.