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26 Jan 2017 / Dampier & Port Hedland, Australia

Tropical low 14U: Update 26 January 2017

Tropical Low (14U) is situated approximately 115 Km NE of Derby. The system will move WSW across Kimberley and move off to west Kimberley coast later in the day. On Friday (27 January) it is expected to move WSW direction over water, roughly parallel to the Pilbara coast and could develop enough to reach TC intensity during the night.

Gales are expected on the southern side of the low during Friday afternoon and evening even if cyclone intensity is not reached.

The Port of Dampier is currently at Cyclone Response stage 2 – Prepare. This stage involves extensive communications and consultation between the Dampier Harbour Master, Port Terminal Operators, Port users and Pilots. Operational plans, sailing drafts, tidal requirements and intentions will be discussed and evaluated against possible response scenarios.

Dampier will move to Cyclone Stage response stage 3 – Clear Port tomorrow and the intention is to have the port cleared by 1600 hours LT. Dampier Harbour Master will commence clearing the port and its anchorages of all large vessels with the view to having all large vessels clear of port limits 12 hours prior to the onset of gale force winds. This time frame is designed to ensure adequate margins of safety, and to provide ships adequate time to clear the coast before encountering storm conditions.

The system is expected to develop into a tropical cyclone, with predicted gale force winds and large swell across the Port Hedland area from pm tomorrow through to midday on Saturday (28 January). It is expected the port will close during this time, with all vessels clear of the port and anchorages by midday on Friday (27 January).

To facilitate port closure, entry to Port Hedland will be limited to those vessels that have been scheduled to berth prior to the proposed closure and that can complete cargo operations within that time. All other vessels with ETAs after this time may give their ETAs at the First Reporting Point as their anchor time and NOR and remain at sea until the anchorage is re-opened.

All vessels currently at anchor will be required to vacate the anchorage area in an order determined by the Port Hedland VTS.

During the port closure, vessels are to remain at least 10 nautical miles clear of the First Reporting Point.

On reopening of the port, an email will be sent asking for ETAs of vessels returning to Port Hedland. A schedule for the return of vessels will be developed by the VTS and will be disseminated to all parties. Vessels should remain a minimum of 10 nautical miles clear of the first reporting point until clearance to enter the port (via the Eastern route) is received from Port Hedland VTS. Vessels will not lose their priority for berthing due to port closure/evacuation.

For information about operations in Australia contact GAC Australia at [email protected]

If quoting any content from Hot Port News, please cite GAC Hot Port News as the source.

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