Devonport Terminal 3 upgrade awarded Engineers Australia Project of the Year, Tasmania

Hazell Bros Brady Marine Joint Venture (HBJV) has been awarded the 2025 Engineers Australia ‘Project of the Year’ award (Tasmania), for its delivery of the Quaylink Terminal 3 Marine and Dredge project in East Devonport.  

The multi-state award recognises Australia’s top endeavours in engineering, and the teams behind them pioneering innovative and elegant engineering solutions, materials or methods.

The winning project for Tasmania, was a joint venture contracted by TasPorts to upgrade the existing Berth 3E for the arrival of the new Spirit of Tasmania vessels.  

The scope of the project included dredging to create a larger berth pocket, construction of land reclamation, construction of 137m of new wharf infrastructure, plus the remediation of 50m of old wharf infrastructure to create a continuous quay line designed specifically for the new vessels.

TasPorts CEO Anthony Donald congratulated HBJV on the award commending the team’s ingenuity.

“HBJV’s use of 8T rock bags as scour protection in the berth, in lieu of traditional large rock or concrete, is an Australian-first solution to protecting berths from ship scour.  

“With the introduction of larger more powerful ships, scour protection is a critical design consideration.  

“Rather than digging large rocks out of a quarry, the team utilised smaller more adaptive rocks to fill the bags, which protect the berth from scour whilst the ship is manoeuvring under power,” he said.

The landmark project, which commenced in November 2021, was completed in July 2024, under budget.

HBJV Project Manager Karl Fenger said, “this is the first time in Australia that these rock bags have been used in this application.  

“The bags are made from recycled materials and are filled with rock from a local Hazell Bros quarry.

“The wharf piles are coated with a 3-layer polyethylene (3LPE) coating system to increase the durability of the piled structure and lower life cycle costs,” Mr Fenger said.

Mr Fenger said the works were carried out with strict environmental monitoring, to ensure compliance to relevant water quality, turbidity, noise and dust standards.  

“Site reuse of material has been maximised where possible with dredge rock and concrete demolition waste being crushed on site and reused in the reclamation areas,” he said.

The full scope of the works contracted by TasPorts included:

• Project design  
• Demolition of existing structures
• Dredging of the berth pocket (approx. 45,000m3)
• Reclamation
• Revetment scour protection
• Wharf construction – piles, precast, in-situ decks
• Wharf furniture – fenders/ bollards
• Minor services – water, power, lighting and stormwater services
• Remediation of existing wharf elements.

The project will now compete amongst other state winners at the national Engineers Australia Excellence Awards Gala Dinner on 13 November, in Sydney.