Thursday 16 July 2026
Half a century ago Queensland had a big problem that needed a bold solution.
Brisbane’s up-river port facilities at Hamilton, New Farm and Bulimba were ill-equipped to handle large container ships.
The facilities were expensive and exporters were increasingly bypassing the northern capital for Sydney.
Despite Queensland’s growing trade internationalisation, Brisbane was in danger of becoming a no-go zone for international cargo.
A State Government strategic review of the city’s port facilities, completed in 1976, came up with an audacious recommendation – a completely new port at Fisherman Islands at the mouth of the Brisbane River.
The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.
Celebrating 50 years of achievement
Today the Port of Brisbane, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026, is Queensland’s proud gateway to the world – modern, world class and constantly striving to stay ahead of the curve – quietly enabling the underpinnings of day-to-day life.
Port of Brisbane CEO Neil Stephens describes it as Queensland’s “best kept secret”.
Its role comes with a certain humility – “If nobody notices the Port of Brisbane, we’re fine with that, because hopefully that is a sign that things are going well,” Mr Stephens says.
Despite this, after 50 years of remarkable progress, the Port of Brisbane is allowing itself to enter the spotlight this year to celebrate a vision of the future that came to life with extraordinary prescience.
The Port of Brisbane area prior to the Fisherman Islands’ development.
How it all began
In 1972 the State Department of Harbours and Marine was asked to report on options for a modern deep-water port for Brisbane that would capitalise on its growing industry and agricultural base and prime location on the doorstep of Asia.
The existing up-river port facilities at the time were increasingly inadequate for bulk carriers and some vessels could not dock at the port or were delayed waiting for suitable tides.
The study investigated three potential sites for a new deepwater port – Wellington Point, Juno Point and Fisherman Islands.
Fisherman Islands was chosen because it could accommodate future generations of vessels without extensive river dredging.
The proposed investment was substantial, and the engineering challenge immense, but the study made it clear that this was a moment in Brisbane’s history for bold-faced thinking on behalf of future generations.
The original port strategy envisaged the need for a dedicated Port Authority with new management techniques and inspired by the needs of business.
The Port of Brisbane Authority Act took effect in 1976 and the Authority awarded its first contract to build port infrastructure a year later.
Access to the Fisherman Islands port precinct opened in 1977.
A bold vision for the future
As it turned out, the original strategy all those years ago was spot-on with its prediction about a shift towards Asian trade and the dominance of ever-larger container ships.
The initial $35.5 million investment in the port sparked an economic multiplier that now equates to more than $73.5 billion worth of international trade annually.
This accounts for more than 95 percent of the state’s import and export container traffic and motor vehicle movements, representing around 450 different commodities.
Today the Port of Brisbane is Australia’s largest capital-city port by area and Queensland’s primary trade gateway.
The site itself is something of a trade city, with around 80 businesses, making it one of South East Queensland’s largest industrial property portfolios.
“We are almost 1900 hectares,” Mr Stephens said. “Melbourne would be about 500 hectares. Sydney, about half that. We can fit those two in one of our five precincts.”
“One of the things that a lot of people don’t realise is that much of Fisherman Islands is effectively man-made.
“The land exists because the port has spent decades reclaiming and reusing material dredged from the shipping channel, which it has to do to ensure safe passage for the large vessels that visit Brisbane.”
The Port of Brisbane today.
The changing corporate structure
Since the formation of the original Port of Brisbane Authority, the governance structure has undergone various iterations with the facility now held privately on a 99-year lease from the State Government by the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd.
Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd is owned by the APH Consortium, a joint venture of global investors La Caisse, IFM Investors, QIC Private Capital Pty Ltd on behalf of its managed funds, and Tawreed Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
Some awe-inspiring infrastructure
Robert Nave, who worked at the port in senior engineering, strategy and risk, and general management roles from when he left university in 1993 until 2024, had a front row seat for many of the changes.
Over time the organisation evolved from a government-style authority into a “modern, progressive corporation that other ports looked to as an example”.
“The various expansion projects undertaken over the years are very significant pieces of infrastructure,” he said.
“While some engineers might see this as business as usual, I find people outside the port are always in awe of what’s been achieved.”
The port has seen waves of automation, its fair share of natural disasters, industrial and trade evolution, and the geotechnical challenges of ensuring ships have the necessary channel depth to safely transit the channel and berth at the wharves.
Mr Nave explains that Fisherman Islands sits on a marine environment with “ancient river channels underneath”.
“You can move a couple of metres and suddenly go from relatively shallow sediment to 40 metres of soft material, making it particularly challenging to build on,” he said.
“The Port of Brisbane is responsible for 90km of shipping channel from Fisherman Islands to Caloundra. This includes the challenging North West Channel, where ships travel parallel to ocean waves.”
As container ships became larger and to minimise dredging at the time, the port led the development of a sophisticated modelling system that brought together vessel-specific hull data, weather forecasting, wave modelling and tidal information to predict how ships will behave in the channel. NCOS Online, as it was known, allowed deeper vessels to enter the port while maintaining the high safety standard needed by the Harbour Master.
Mr Nave said another thing the Port of Brisbane did “exceptionally well” was establish a comprehensive environmental baseline study for Fisherman Islands and Moreton Bay in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“That baseline meant the port could objectively measure environmental impacts over time,” he said. “Many organisations never collect that information. The Port of Brisbane did.
“There was always a lot of forethought and long-term planning. Good decisions were made, and they’ve largely proven successful over time.”
Access to the Fisherman Islands port precinct opened in 1977.
Some big milestones
Over the years some of the milestones have included:
- Works began on road and rail connections from Lytton to Fisherman Islands in 1977
- The initial port complex was opened by the then Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen in November 1980
- The first container ship docked a year later, in 1981
- Establishment of the Port’s Community Consultative Committee in 2002, still operating today
- Completion of the Port’s 4.6km seawall in 2004, enabling progressive and ongoing land reclamation of approx. 230ha, known as the Future Port Expansion area
- The opening of the Port of Brisbane Motorway upgrade in 2013
- Australia-first automation across all three stevedores in 2014
- Implementation of NCOS Online in 2017, allowing vessels with 14m draught to call Brisbane
- The opening of the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal in 2022
- The 2025 release of the Vision 2060 statement, plotting the next 40 years of development
Fifty years on, the Port of Brisbane stands as a striking example of the power of audacity and what can happen when long-term vision is matched by action.
What began as a bold idea has evolved into one of Queensland’s most important assets – a vast, ever-changing gateway that connects the state to 145 countries.
It is a gentle industrial giant quietly moving cargo, reshaping land and stewarding the products, prosperity and lifestyle that can so easily be taken for granted.
This is the first in a series of Newsreel features bringing alive the Port of Brisbane’s history and stories.