Port of Brisbane’s Fisherman Islands

Fisherman Islands is a largely artificial landmass, progressively created through reclamation over several decades at the mouth of the Brisbane River. Since the 1970’s, the port footprint has been extended incrementally into Moreton Bay, transforming a group of small islands into a growing port precinct. Rather than pursuing a single, large-scale build-out, expansion has been closely linked to trade growth and the demand for port land and terminal capacity, reflecting a fundamentally staged approach.

A key element of this strategy is the Future Port Expansion (FPE) area, a 224 hectare area at Fisherman Islands divided into paddocks within a perimeter seawall that are being progressively reclaimed (Port of Brisbane, 2026). In FY25 the port reported about 200 ha of the FPE remaining to be developed (Port of Brisbane, 2025, p.43). This approach allows land formation to be staged and maintenance-dredged material to be reused. It provides flexibility for later development; the sources reviewed do not establish that every terminal investment is triggered only by confirmed demand or quantify avoided capital or carbon costs.

The staged methodology is further reinforced by the integration of dredging and reclamation activities with ongoing port operations. Material from maintenance dredging of the port's channels is placed partly at the Mud Island Dredged Material Placement Area in Moreton Bay and partly in the FPE, where it is used beneficially to create new port land (Port of Brisbane, 2025). In FY25, for example, about 290,000 cubic meters of sand from the Spitfire Channel bypass project and part of about 337,000 cubic meters of maintenance dredged silt and mud were placed in the FPE (Port of Brisbane, 2025), gradually raising land levels and enabling future development without the need for immediate large-scale fill campaigns. This reuses part of the dredged material on land and aligns reclamation timing with maintenance cycles.

Critically, while land is created progressively, terminal infrastructure and logistics facilities can be delivered as demand develops. For example, the release of reclaimed land for tenants and terminal operators follows ground improvement works, and the port is progressively developing the area to meet demand for new industrial land (Port of Brisbane, 2025). This decoupling of land creation from terminal development enables the port to maintain a long-term supply of strategically located land while retaining flexibility in how and when it is used in response to market conditions.

The Fisherman Islands case study illustrates how staged, demand-aligned development can support sustainable port growth by staging land formation, reusing dredged material and keeping flexibility for later development. The sources reviewed do not quantify avoided capital or carbon costs. By combining long-term masterplanning with incremental delivery, the Port of Brisbane has created a scalable development pathway that allows infrastructure provision to follow demand, consistent with leading practice guidance for flexible port planning.