Strong ties possible for floating deck

The floating deck transhipment system to be based at Dampier Port could help improve road safety and strengthen links between WA and South East Asia, according to Transport Minister Dean Nalder.

After visiting the port last week, Mr Nalder said the deck could potentially lead to a reduction of oversize vehicle movements on the North West Coastal Highway and possibly be a catalyst for a coastal liner to operate from South East Asia to Dampier.

"The Floating Deck Transhipment System helps the Port of Dampier provide reliability of berthing, which has been an ongoing issue with the high demand on the Dampier Cargo Wharf," he said.

"If ships are not delayed and have ready berth access available the case for ship rather than road freight to the Pilbara becomes more viable.

Mr Nalder said the FDTS would support the high-cycle offshore support and inward industrial supply chains to the Pilbara, which were constrained because of high demand on the wharf, land constraints, number of available trucks and the additional time required to stevedore oversize and out of gauge cargo.