Aids to Navigation Servicing - Gladstone Harbour

Northern Aids to Navigation Servicing

Maritime Safety Queensland | October 2026

The Gladstone North Aids to Navigation support the Port of Gladstone, Queensland’s largest multi-commodity port, which handles more than 34 products across eight precincts with annual throughput above 119 million tonnes. Navigational aids are the quiet achievers of marine safety. Mariners rely on each being in the charted position and flashing the right pattern as they move through shipping channels.

Vessels and Servicing Method

Fodico Marine Group has a long history of servicing aids to navigation across Queensland waters, and one team takes each job from planning through to the final report.

Over three days, the crew retrieved, inspected and redeployed the aids using the 15m tug Alkira, the dumb barge Targetline and the tender Twisted Sister. The Targetline’s 25 tonne luffing A-frame lifted each buoy and its mooring system onto the barge deck. The mooring blocks weigh around two to three tonnes each.

On deck, the crew inspected each buoy’s markers and light and blasted off the marine growth. Lines, chain and shackles were checked and measured for wear, and sacrificial anodes and other mooring components and tackle were replaced as required. The marine crew then redeployed each buoy and mooring to its charted position.

Plant was demobilised, and removed material went for ashore to an approved disposal facility.

Records and Next Maintenance

All buoys were redeployed with new mooring chain and welded shackles with sacrificial anodes fitted to the bridal assemblies as required.  Each has a full photographic record of its condition before and after servicing. That record gives the port a clear picture of the moorings and a solid base for planning the next round of maintenance.