UP IN the northern end of Western Australia, trade is flourishing for port operator Kimberley Ports Authority. It has ambitious plans over the next 12 months to complete master planning for its four ports and establish sustainability and reconciliation plans.

“The master plan will give us a roadmap for development of the ports,” KPA CEO Luke Westlake told DCN.

“It will help secure the future of the ports and ensure that they remain fit for purpose to meet community demand into the long term.”

Stakeholder engagement is already underway, with Black Quay Consulting engaged to produce the master plan on behalf of KPA.

KPA is on track to achieve higher throughput in the current financial year. Since July last year, it has received 1118 vessels and handled 3.6 million tonnes of cargo and bulk commodities.

In 2022-23, KPA had 1562 vessels call at its ports and achieved a throughput of 3.17 million tonnes. This was slightly higher than the previous year (2.33 million tonnes), due largely to more exports of iron ore from Yampi Sound.

KPA is responsible for four ports in the north of Western Australia, including the jetty licenses on Koolan and Cockatoo Islands located in Yampi Sound, the maritime security and shipping safety in the port waters surrounding the islands within the Buccaneer Archipelago. It also manages the ports of Wyndham, Broome and Derby.

KPA’s ports reflect, and have influenced, development of the region. A centre for the mineral, oil and gas trades, the Kimberley also accommodates regional agriculture, aquaculture and tourism.

High-grade iron ore has been mined from Koolan and Cockatoo Islands since 1951 and remains a key commodity for KPA, along with oil and gas.

The Port of Wyndham has re-commenced export of iron ore as a transhipment operation and also facilitates the export of nickel, scrap metal and corn.

In May, Engage Marine began providing iron ore transhipment services for Kimberley Metals Group at Wyndham. Bulk carrier African Lion was loaded with exports from the reactivated Ridges Iron Ore Project, located about 165 kilometres south of Wyndham.

Live export is also a significant trade at Wyndham, with around 100-130,000 head of cattle being exported from Broome and Wyndham ports each year, bound for markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Earlier this year, the Port of Broome commenced export of mineral sands with Kimberley Mineral Sands (KMS), despatching its first bulk shipment of zircon concentrates from the Thunderbird project in the West Kimberley.

Approximately 10,000 tonnes of zircon left the port of Broome, after being loaded by Rotainer on Swire Projects’ MPP Pacific Fortune and destined for KMS’s international offtake partners.

Mr Westlake said, “KMS will ship its zircon and ilmenite from Broome; it’s expected to ramp up to one million tonnes per year in stage one operation.

“Last week, we just completed a 34,000-tonne shipment and another vessel is due in next week to take another 30,000 tonnes,” he said at the time of writing in May.

It is estimated the Thunderbird project will produce 6.5% of global zircon supply and 3.5% of global ilmenite over the 36-year life of the mine.

The port of Derby facilitates barge operations for Mount Gibson Iron Ore and acts as a supply base for the Koolan Island operations.

“The port also does some work for local aquaculture and receives small tourism and charter vessels,” Mr Westlake said.

While export of nickel has ceased at the Port of Wyndham, Mr Westlake said, “There are a few proponents looking at investment in the east Kimberley area, which are likely to export out of Wyndham if the projects reach final investment decision.

“These projects are in minerals and resources but there is also potential for renewable energy … and the emerging cotton industry,” he said.

KPA is working with companies looking to establish the export trade for cotton, which it believes could become a reality within a few years.

One renewable energy project that’s received the backing of the Commonwealth Government, is an Aboriginal Clean Energy Partnership project that aims to be the “first 100% green energy, hydrogen, and ammonia export project in Australia”.

The East Kimberley Clean Energy project is being designed to utilise existing infrastructure in the region, including electricity transmission lines, roads, airport and the Port of Wyndham.

The project will see a 2000-hectare solar farm developed on MG Corporation freehold land near Kununurra. The resulting solar energy (approximately 1000 megawatts) will be combined with water and hydro energy from the existing Ord Hydro Power Plant at Lake Argyle to produce green hydrogen.

The green hydrogen will be transported by pipeline to Balanggarra Country in Wyndham where it will be converted to green ammonia. The green ammonia will be sold locally as a fertiliser for irrigated agriculture and exported to support the decarbonisation of food production and fertilisers.

“Our primary focus is facilitating trade, but we want to have a sustainable approach to growth and a responsible approach to growth in our region,” Mr Westlake said.

“Our intention is to assist those parties who want to import and export products through our ports … that generates growth, jobs and opportunities for small businesses as well,” he said.

The cruise trade is an obvious example, with more than 200 small cruise vessels visiting the region each year. The medium to large trade has been slower in returning to pre-covid levels but KPA expects around 20 such vessels in the current year, which can carry up to 2500 passengers each.

KPA is expanding its capacity through the Kimberley Marine Support Base (KMSB) development and increasing its border services at Broome.

Last year it was announced the KMSB would be funded and constructed by a private company. The development will include the construction of 360-metre causeway that connects to a 165-metre by 50-metre floating wharf platform.

“The developer will appoint an operator of that facility and for the first five years KPA will provide stevedoring to that operator,” Mr Westlake said.

“Hopefully, increased berth capacity will enable us to attract some new trades. With the introduction of minerals sands this year, we are a bit stretched with our berth capacity.”

Broome is also aiming to secure expanded first point of entry status, which would allow more cargo to be directly imported into Broome. Expanded activities are expected to increase local trade capacity and potentially enable cruise ships to travel directly to Broome.

Expansion of export behemoth

At the end of April, Pilbara Ports Authority had achieved a massive throughput of 617,921 million tonnes for the 2023-24 financial year, a 1% decline overall compared to the same period in the previous financial year.

However, the month of April recorded a 13% increase on the corresponding month last year.

Pilbara Ports CEO Samuel McSkimming told DCN, “The trend of increased throughput is anticipated to continue during May and June, as iron ore producers raise their production levels to meet end of financial year targets”.

Pilbara Ports encompasses the ports of Port Hedland, Ashburton, Dampier and Varanus Island.

Iron ore exports represented around 94% of Pilbara Ports’ overall trade from July to April. The ports also achieved growth in container trade over this period.

The organisation is currently making significant investment in the region through large-scale development projects with backing from the Commonwealth Government.

In April, WA minister for ports David Michael announced that two minerals companies had signed an agreement with Pilbara Ports, securing their position as the first customers for the Lumsden Point facility in the Port of Port Hedland.

Lumsden Point construction has been under way since January last year and is expected to be operational in 2026.

“The facility is highly anticipated and will provide capacity to support the export of critical minerals and the import of renewable energy infrastructure,” Mr McSkimming said.

“This is a significant piece of infrastructure which includes the construction of two new berths, landside reclamation, and a new causeway connecting the facility to the proposed logistics hub.”

The Lumsden Point development will facilitate the export of battery metals such as lithium and copper concentrates, the import of wind turbines and blades, as well as support the growth of direct shipping services to the Pilbara.

The Commonwealth Government is investing $565 million to support common user port upgrades in the Pilbara, part of which will enable the development of Lumsden Point. This is in partnership with the WA government, which has committed $96.6 million to the project. Mr McSkimming said the Commonwealth investment will also be used for several Dampier Cargo Wharf projects.

“Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources Limited were both allocated a lease lot in the Lumsden Point Mineral Concentrate Precinct,” he said

“The agreement enables each proponent to progress on finalising tenure agreements.”

Pilbara Minerals has two major production expansion projects underway which will take the nameplate capacity of its Pilgangoora Operation to up to one million tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate by 2025.

“Mineral Resources has indicated Lumsden Point will support its expanding spodumene concentrate exports from the Wodgina lithium operation in the Pilbara,” Mr McSkimming said.

“It is too early to say which other customers will be allocated usage of Lumsden Point.

“Excitingly, we’ve had significant interest from industry seeking to access the facility, so we expect to see a well-utilised facility upon completion,” he said.

Pilbara Ports undertook a tender process in August last year for the design and construction of the Dampier Bulk Handling Facility, which will encourage trade diversification at the port by opening access to a world-wide urea market. The facility will be built south of the existing Dampier Cargo Wharf and will be supported by a new berth pocket.

It will berth Supramax and Panamax vessels and support a shiploader and conveyor for the bulk export of urea. It will also accommodate general cargo vessels, cruise ships, as well as vessels supporting the offshore oil and gas industry.

The Pilbara region has been a focus of efforts to decarbonise the bulk carrier fleet in recent years. Mr McSkimming said, “Pilbara Ports is working collaboratively with Yara to leverage existing production and trade flows in the Pilbara to fast-track ammonia as a zero-carbon fuel in the region.”

A joint study by Pilbara Ports and Yara provided steps to develop vessel designs and emergency response planning. Mr McSkimming said Pilbara Ports is looking forward to progressing on ammonia bunkering.

Port Kembla’s evolution

Port Kembla handles a diverse range of cargo, including more than 99% of the state’s motor vehicles as well as vital construction materials and the largest grain export volumes on the east coast.

NSW Ports CEO Marika Calfas told DCN, “As the state’s renewable energy transition continues, we are seeing more project cargo coming through the port for solar farms, wind farms, as well as railway rolling stock.

“Electric vehicles are also growing in line with consumer demand,” she said.

Non-containerised trade cargo throughput at Port Kembla was 20.98 million tonnes year-to-date, as of April. This includes breakbulk, bulk liquid, dry bulk and ro-ro. Motor vehicle imports remain strong through Port Kembla following a few strong years and are up 7.2% year-to-date, while overall ro-ro imports are up 5.9%.

“Dry bulk imports have remained steady as we continue to see strong demand for construction materials such as cement for major construction projects underway,” Ms Calfas said.

“Dry bulk exports have dropped 28% year-to-date as we see a decrease in the grain crop size harvested last season following two record breaking years and higher domestic allocation of grain.”

NSW Ports says it continues to invest in the port to meet the state’s growing freight task.

“In addition to our own offshore wind port facility plans, construction is continuing on Squadron Energy’s LNG import plant, which will be the first of its kind in Australia,” Ms Calfas said.

Australian-owned international agribusiness Manildra also continues to progress the development of its ethanol export facility.

Last year, NSW Ports released concept plans for a port facility to support the east coast offshore wind zones, including the Gippsland zone in Victoria.

The facility would support the handling, set down and assembly of offshore wind components – as well as the load-out of the completed turbine units to the zoned location offshore.

“We are now in the process of making modifications to the existing concept planning approval, which has been in place since 2011,” Ms Calfas said.

“We continue to engage with all levels of government and potential proponents of projects on the east coast to progress these plans and could be operational within five years if we commenced the construction process now.

“Commencing this process requires certainty around the use of the facility, to enable a business case to be developed for the significant investment required.”

In addition to its plans for offshore wind, Port Kembla already handles renewable energy components to support the development of onshore wind farms, hydroelectric and solar power projects and says it is “well placed to support the growing hydrogen sector”.

NSW Ports also asserts that Port Kembla is the best-placed port to be the state’s next container terminal once Port Botany is maximised and additional capacity is required.

Port Kembla offers the shortest route of any port outside Port Botany to the state’s major growth centres of Liverpool (81 kilometres), the Western Sydney Airport Business Park (89 kilometres) and Parramatta (96 kilometres).

“Locating a container terminal at Port Kembla will provide the greatest cost benefits for households and supply chains, which is why the NSW government’s current container policy makes sense and should remain,” Ms Calfas said.

The organisation is also on track to achieve its target of net-zero scope one and two emissions by the end of FY25.

“We also continue to work closely with our tenants and suppliers to quantify scope three emissions across all NSW Ports locations and identify decarbonisation roadmaps,” Ms Calfas said.

This article appeared in the June 2024 edition of DCN Magazine