Ribbon cut on new Blue Water facility at Port of Brisbane

The new facility enables us to offer even better solutions to our customers within the Energy, Ports and Projects segments

Almost 200 people gathered earlier this week to celebrate the opening of Blue Water’s new Queensland depot and distribution hub at a 5.178ha site on Fisherman Islands.

The new facility has enabled the international transport and logistics provider to consolidate its port operations into one location, having occupied casual lease sites at the Port for just over two years.

Blue Water’s new landside transport and logistics depot comprises a 15,000sqm warehouse plus a 500sqm administrative building, car parking and over 30,000sqm of hardstand together with a washbay and bond store.

Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) Chief Commercial Officer, David Keir, congratulated all involved: “We’re very pleased to have designed and delivered this high quality, purpose-built facility for Blue Water in less than 12 months, providing them with a new, permanent home from which to operate and grow,” says Mr Keir and continues: 

“Our project teams worked hand-in-glove with Blue Water throughout the design stage, really testing their user requirements to design the most flexible depot for them and deliver the best possible outcome. Ultimately, we’ve delivered a highly flexible site that helps give Blue Water a competitive edge in its project cargo work, that will ultimately enable them to bring more trade through their port operations and support their growth aspirations.” 

Improving solutions for the Energy, Ports and Projects segments

Blue Water is delighted to take possession of our purpose-built facility on Fisherman’s Island. This facility will play a huge part to our local success and will enable further growth across our targeted verticals: Mining, Renewables, Infrastructure, and Conventional Energy. The entire process, from design to construction, has been seamless, thanks to PBPL, Johnstaff, and FKG collaborative approach.

“The new facility enables us to offer even better solutions to our customers within the Energy, Ports and Projects segments. By centralising all our port activities in one location and providing seamless connections for shippers and consignees, we offer an efficient one-stop solution for import and export processing”, says Thomas Bek, COO at Blue Water.  

The facility was delivered by PBPL with Principal Contractor, FKG. It was designed by Sparc Architects and project managed by Johnstaff.

11% reduction in embodied carbon emissions 

As is standard in all new PBPL property developments, the Blue Water depot and distribution hub was delivered to a 5-star equivalent sustainability rating. It incorporated sustainable design elements including a 99kW rooftop solar system, Enviroconcepts water treatment system, low carbon concrete in the car park and warehouse dado panels and a highly efficient steel frame design that reduced overall steel tonnage. 

Overall, the sustainability initiatives incorporated into the project achieved an approximate 11% reduction in embodied carbon (approximately 1,464 tonnes CO2 savings).

Construction commenced in January 2024 and was completed in November 2024.

About Port of Brisbane

Port of Brisbane, Queensland’s largest multi-cargo port, handles approximately $72 billion in international trade annually. This includes around 95% of the state’s containers and motor vehicles and around 50% of its agricultural exports. In FY24, a record 1.61 million containers were handled through the Port. 

The Port’s ~1870ha footprint comprises ‘wet and dry’ land designated for industrial and commercial uses including around 693ha of environmental areas, 8,200m of quayline, 28 operating berths and approximately 200ha remaining in its Future Port Expansion area.

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