EXPANSION of Western Australia's port capacity remains a high priority for local industry, despite the dampening impact of the global economic crisis.
EXPANSION of Western Australia's port capacity remains a high priority for local industry, despite the dampening impact of the global economic crisis.
While the slowdown temporarily eased congestion at some ports, the spectre of capacity restraints has re-emerged as Chinese demand for key commodities, notably iron ore and LNG, has started to recover.
Despite slowing demand late last year, the state's key iron ore ports exported a record 316 million tonnes in the year to June 30, 21mt more than in 2007-08.
Port Hedland, from which both BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group export all their output, was again Australia's biggest export gateway by tonnage, shipping a record 158.6mt of material during the year, including 153mt of iron ore.
The maximum potential capacity of Port Hedland's inner harbour is estimated at 400mtpa, at which point the $10 billion development of an outer harbour would be required.
That has sparked fierce competition for future space within the inner harbour, given BHP is currently working to expand its port capacity to 240mtpa, and Fortescue is planning to initially double capacity to 100mtpa en-route to a longer term target of 200mtpa.
Meanwhile, a $225 million multi-user berth at Utah Point is also under construction to provide 18mtpa of capacity to smaller miners from 2010, while the North West Iron Ore Alliance of emerging miners has been allocated 50mtpa of future capacity at the proposed South West Creek site. Hancock Prospecting also plans to ship 30mtpa from its proposed Roy Hill mine through South West Creek.
Against that, BHP has shelved plans for an outer harbour development pending the outcome of its proposed iron ore joint venture with Rio Tinto, which has more easily expandable ports at Dampier and Cape Lambert and has identified options to increase their capacity to over 300mtpa.
Dampier was WA's second busiest port last financial year, with total shipments of 140mt, mostly comprising iron ore and LNG.
Meanwhile, Rio completed a major expansion of its Cape Lambert port late last year, lifting its capacity from 55mt to 80mtpa.
Constraints are not only affecting the Pilbara, with emerging iron ore miners in the Mid West desperate for the $4 billion development of the Oakajee deepwater port and rail project to come on-stream by late 2013.
The existing Geraldton Port shipped a record 7.6mt of commodities, including 4.17mt of iron ore last financial year. However, the state government has capped its future capacity at 12mtpa to maximise throughput through Oakajee, while a dispute over the addition of a new rail unloader has prevented Geraldton Port from maximising its current export capacity.
Fremantle Port is WA's biggest container port and arguably WA's biggest export facility by value, exporting 26.6mt of goods worth almost $26 billion in 2008-09.
The authority has recently started a $250 million dredging program to handle larger vessels.
However, long-term expansion opportunities are limited and it is anticipated that, within a decade, a new port will be developed in the 'outer harbour' at Cockburn Sound, where the port authority and the Len Buckeridge-backed James Point Pty Ltd have competing proposals.
Further south at Bunbury port, which exported 11.7mt of goods in 2008-09, plans for a $1 billion expansion to double capacity have been on the table for more than a decade.
However, the inner harbour structure plan has only just been released, and the proposal will require full environmental assessment before major work can begin. As a first step, a $63 million upgrade of the port access road is due for completion in December.
WA's two other major ports, Albany and Esperance, also face major challenges. An expansion of Albany is dependent on the timing of the now-slowed Southdown iron ore project, while Esperance is undergoing a major re-fit to minimise iron ore and nickel dust emissions.
