Swanson Dock is an international shipping facility in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. It was constructed between 1966 and 1972 by the

Melbourne Harbor Trust The Melbourne Harbor Trust was established in 1877 to improve and operate port facilities for the growing city of Melbourne. It was superseded by the Port of Melbourne Authority in 1978 and later by the Port of Melbourne Corporation. Creation I ...

, leading off the north bank of the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

, to alleviate congestion in the port and provide Melbourne's first container shipping terminal. It is located about 2 km downstream from the Melbourne CBD and was named after Victor Swanson, chairman of the Melbourne Harbor Trust from 1960 to 1972.

History

The construction of Spencer Street bridge over the

in 1929 reduced the capacity of the riverside wharves,and led to expansion downstream of port facilities initially with Appleton Dock. Swanson Dock was constructed in 1968 on the former Coode Island as Melbourne's first all-container shipping terminal, reflecting the rapid world-wide change at the beginning of the 1960s, from unit cargo where each product was loaded in different forms of packaging, to shipping cargo in uniform sized containers. Swanson Dock was officially opened on 7 March 1969, by the

Governor of Victoria The governor of Victoria is the representative of Monarchy of Australia, the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the premier of V ...

, Sir

Rohan Delacombe Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Sir Rohan Delacombe, (25 October 1906 – 10 November 1991) was a senior British Army officer. After he retired from the army, he was the last British-born Governor of Victoria, Australia from 1963 t ...

, during the 6th biennial conference of the International Association of Ports and Harbors, Melbourne Harbor Trust hosted. The first international ship to dock (at No 1 West Berth) was the ''Encounter Bay''. Port-of-melbourne-freight-train

Operation

Swanson Dock East has a berth length of serviced by six container cranes with of container storage and roadways and rail siding. Swanson Dock West has of wharves with seven container cranes and of space, potentially expanding as trade grows. Swanson Dock East and West can accommodate the largest container ships trading with Australia. Railway goods sidings serve both Swanson Dock East and West, permitting the transfer of

shipping containers A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...

between sea and rail transport. Originally provided in the 1960s with the development of the port, they were later removed. Rail facilities were restored between 2002 and 2003 with a new 1500 metre long siding and overpasses to separate road traffic. Swanson dock picket 19980420 pan

Swanson Dock was one side of the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute when dockworkers were locked out by Patrick Stevedores, and replaced with non-union labour. The Maritime Union of Australia workers picketing East Swanson dock invited Wendy Lowenstein to record them "making history", which was incorporated into a second edition of her book ''Under the Hook''.

History

Operation

See also

References

Further reading