ALL ports have reopened in northern Queensland in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper.

Several ports were shut or put on alert this past week as the cyclone lashed the coast. The Maritime Safety Queensland dashboard on Friday 15 December indicates all ports are back in action.

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper made landfall north of Cape Tribulation late on Wednesday 13 December. The storm has since been downgraded to a tropical low (as of Friday 15 December).

At the height of the storm the ports of Cairns, Mourilyan, Port Douglas, Cooktown and Cape Flattery were all closed.  

Port of Cairns downgraded from red alert to yellow alert at about midday on Thursday 14 December, with Ports North reporting some power and services issues.

The ports of Cape Flattery, Cooktown and Mourilyan remained on red alert for some time, but by late morning on Friday 15 December all ports had reopened.

In an update on Thursday afternoon (14 December) Ports North said staff who hadn’t been “personally impacted” by the cyclone returned to work

“From early [Thursday] morning, we have been inspecting the Ports of Cairns and Mourilyan to ensure that the assets and infrastructure are safe for vessels to return,” it said.

The Queensland government on Friday morning said the extent of the damage was still being assessed, but it had activated immediate disaster assistance for counter-disaster operations and reconstruction of essential public assets.

“The impacts of Tropical Cyclone Jasper are still being determined but we want to give communities the best opportunity to respond and recover quickly,” federal minister for emergency management Murray Watt said.

The Bureau of Meteorology in an update on Friday said there was potential for the cyclone to intensify later next week, but not to the same extent.

“Ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper is expected to move into the Gulf of Carpentaria during the weekend but is not expected to intensify significantly,” BOM said.

“There is large uncertainty around both its movement and strength next week but it could re-intensify near the Top End coast later in the week.”