AN ENGINEERING report obtained by the ABC claims fuel tanks built on Port of Darwin land won’t withstand a category three cyclone.
The 11 tanks, known as Project Caymus, built for the US military, were designed to hold 300 million litres of flammable liquid and are owned by US company Crowley according to the ABC news report.
The tanks which have never held fuel according to the ABC because water is seeping into them, were built by two subcontractors, Australian based Saunders International and US based Latitude 63, who have since had their contracts terminated.
The tanks which cost $270 million were apparently built without a building permit to a design standard level two, which is the classification for a garage or shed, rather than level four which is required for structures containing hazardous materials.
They were meant to be operational by 2023.
The report completed in 2023, according to the ABC, warns that failure of the tanks in a cyclonic wind event could result in more than 200 million litres of flammable liquid becoming uncontained, leading to hazardous conditions beyond the property boundaries and catastrophic consequences for people, property, and the environment.
