Barges in the harbour mark official start on Eden's wave attenuator

NSW Maritime Executive Director Mark Hutchings said it was an exciting milestone for the project, which kicks off the first stage of permanent work.

"Initial work on the Eden Safe Harbour Project started in November last year but now we're really going to start seeing the wave wall take shape," Mr Hutchings said.

"A 366-metre-long fixed panel wave attenuator is being built towards the inlet at Snug Cove, between the two mooring jetties, which will help calm wave activity and protect boats and other maritime infrastructure.

"A 400 tonne jack up barge has arrived from Port Headland, and a huge 270 tonne crane has been trucked to site in pieces and assembled on top. This barge has been joined by "Kochi", a 600 tonne floating barge kitted out with a 210 tonne crane on deck.

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"The heavy-duty, purpose-built marine construction platforms, are being used to build the wave attenuator, along with dumb barges, tugs, cranes and piling hammers."

Kochi is a Japanese built barge with extensive lift capacity which will help to increase productivity and efficiency.

Mr Hutchings said the first of 127 piles was being driven into the seabed, with the work set to continue until the middle of the year.

"Precast concrete headstocks will start to be installed over the next two months, followed by the precast concrete panels," Mr Hutchings said.

"The majority of these materials are being built off-site and delivered by road to Eden, to be installed at sea by the project team.

"We're also improving existing infrastructure within the Port by replacing the fender piles on the mooring jetty to provide safer mooring locations for recreational and fishing vessels for many years to come.

"We want to reassure the local community that maintaining a safe marine environment is a top priority. We have marine mammal observers on site during the piling to stop work if any marine life comes near our operations."

Doug Walker, the senior contract manager for the project, said workers would be installing "anywhere from two to four piles a day".

"There will be a lot of piling and impact noise," he said. "There will also be a lot of vessel movement brining equipment from the shore to the barges.

"Over the coming months we'll see all the equipment head further into the bay, a lot of deliveries coming in by road, and a lot of heavy lifts from the land onto the barges to help start assembling the project.

"It's taken us about five months to get to this point, and that's largely due to delays with global logistic supplies. All things considered, we've done a pretty good job to get where we are today.

"There's a lot of interest in this project, a lot of people are excited to see it happening. We're seeing the infrastructure happen and seeing money being spent in this beautiful part of the world."

Restricted zones will be established with clearly marked buoys, or fences for land-based operations.

"The wave wall is expected by to be completed by late 2022 and we thank the community for their patience while this work takes place," Mr Hutchings said.