page_title: Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign
section_title: Port
hierarchical_section_title: Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign / Base development / Port
caption_attribution_description: English: Ship berths on Tatana Island were initially earth causeways leading to pontoon docks, which were later replaced with pile structures.
context_page_description: During the Second World War, Allied logistics in Papua played a crucial role in bringing the Kokoda Track campaign to a successful conclusion. "The great problem of warfare in the Pacific", General Douglas MacArthur declared, "is to move forces into contact and maintain them. Victory is dependent upon solution to the logistic problem."
  Although identified early as a vital strategic outpost, Port Moresby, the most significant Papuan town, had just two airfields and basic port facilities in early 1942. An enormous amount of work was required to transform it into a major base for both air and land operations against the Japanese. This was done in the face of frequent Japanese air raids. During the course of the Kokoda Track campaign, the two original airfields were improved, and five new airfields were developed. To make them operational, the engineers had to construct more than just runways; taxiways, hardstands, facilities and access roads all had to be built. The operation of the base depended on shipping, but the port facilities were limited. To increase the capacity of the port, a causeway was built to Tatana Island, where pontoon docks were emplaced.
context_section_description: In early 1942 Port Moresby had only one deepwater wharf and two small jetties. Another pre-war wharf had existed at Bootless Inlet but in the panic, had been demolished and the inlet mined without recording the location of the mines. The timber wharf had an approach that was 150 metres (500 ft) long and 7.3 metres (24 ft) wide and a T-section 98 metres (320 ft) long and 15 metres (50 ft) wide. As such, it could accommodate only one Liberty ship at a time. The jetties, one stone and one timber, were just 30 metres (100 ft) long, and could be used only by lighters and shallow draft vessels.
  To increase the rate of discharge, the Tug and Lighter Company, a unit which had served in the Siege of Tobruk, was sent to Port Moresby. On arrival on 23 August, it found only two lighters and no tugboats. It improvised, repairing the wharf's crane and salvaging tackle from the wreck of the Macdhui. Harbour craft arrived on Liberty ships over the next couple of months, but no more than one tug and ten lighters were available at any time during 1942. The African-American 611th Port Company arrived in June, and the Australian 2/1st Docks Operating Company in mid-September. Major R. C. Ballantyne, who had been in charge of wharf operations at Tobruk, was appointed Docks Superintendent. Unloading was still slowed by the lack of storage space in the wharf area. The dumps had been dispersed in the hills up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Port Moresby, the roads were poor, and there was a serious shortage of trucks to move stores from the wharf to the dumps.
  Eight ships bound for Port Moresby were lying idle off Townsville or Cairns on 12 October, waiting to be called forward. General Headquarters (GHQ) SWPA estimated that at the current rate of discharge it would take two weeks before they were called forward. Ironically, five of them were carrying equipment and stores needed to upgrade the port facilities. Extending the wharf required pilings and heavy timbers that were not immediately available. Matthews decided on a bold plan. Tatana Island, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) west of Port Moresby, had deep water off its northwest side. About 0.80 kilometres (¹⁄₂ mi) offshore, it was separated from the mainland by shallow water with a coral reef bottom. He proposed taking the 2nd Battalion, 96th General Service Regiment off its work on aerodrome maintenance and refuelling and rearming aircraft, and use them to construct a causeway from the mainland to Tatana Island, where pontoon docks could be built. The materials required were immediately available, but doubts were expressed about whether a causeway could withstand the force of storms and tides. Lacking boats for a hydrographic survey, one was conducted by wading during an exceptionally low tide in late September.
  Work commenced on 5 October. Equipment and personnel were ferried across to Tatana Island so it could proceed from both ends. Some 1.8 to 3.7 metres (6 to 12 ft) of fill totalling 38,000 cubic metres (50,000 cu yd) was required to establish a roadway 690 metres (2,250 ft) long and 7.3 metres (24 ft) wide 0.6 metres (2 ft) above the high tide mark. Work was completed on 30 October and the first ship berthed there on 3 November. Port capacity was increased from 1,400 to 4,100 tonnes (1,400 to 4,000 long tons) per day. However, the project did not proceed without controversy. A heavy downpour on 21 October confirmed the airmen's worst fears, and Lieutenant General George C. Kenney, the commander of Allied Air Forces (AAF), sent a letter to MacArthur on 26 October informing him that while work to upgrade the airfield runways before the wet season was nearly completed, aircraft could not operate from them without taxiways, hardstands, facilities and access roads, all of which were far from ready. He warned that he might have to withdraw at least two squadrons back to Australia. Major General Richard Sutherland, MacArthur's chief of staff at GHQ, and Brigadier General Hugh J. Casey, his chief engineer, reassured Kenney everything possible would be done to keep the airfields operational in the w
caption: Ship berths on Tatana Island were initially earth causeways leading to pontoon docks, which were later replaced with pile structures
exif: {}