[2] Designed in the first decade of the twentieth century, construction was eventually completed in 1927 and consisted of 3 mi (4.8 km) of quays and extensive warehouse space.

The Panama Canal and Gladstone locks could accommodate a maximum size of container ship of 4,500-5,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs).

[5] Simultaneously the NY-NJ port in the USA deepened its access channel and raised the Bayonne Bridge to accommodate the large vessels transiting the Panama Canal.

[6] At the outbreak of the First World War, the liner RMS Aquitania was undergoing repairs in Gladstone Graving Dock.

On 25 January 1953, the liner RMS Empress of Canada caught fire and capsized in Gladstone Number One Branch Dock.

She was refloated the following year and towed to Gladstone Graving Dock to be made watertight, in preparation for being scrapped in Italy.