A PURPOSE-built oil and gas field decommissioning vessel has docked at the Port of Bunbury in Western Australia for the first time since leaving Geelong Port in December 2023.
The Helix Q7000, recently operating off the coast of West Africa and in Australasian waters, the Q7000 was in Bunbury to unload the Riserless Open-Water Abandonment Module (ROAM), a 116-tonne piece of breakbulk equipment used for subsea decommissioning in the Bass Strait.
Southern Ports Chief Executive Officer Keith Wilks said the visit demonstrated the exceptional capacity and capability of the Port of Bunbury.
“The Port of Bunbury is extremely unique for any Australian port given its expansive land size, our sheltered inner harbour, and our capability to import large breakbulk,” Mr Wilks said.
“We have the capacity to facilitate the import of large infrastructure and equipment at the Port of Bunbury and are always looking for opportunities to further our breakbulk trade and meet our customers’ needs.”
Mr Wilks said the Helix Q7000’s visit had reinforced how strong regional ports can contribute to strong regions, with a maximum of 140 crew members able to take shore leave, boosting the regional economy.
The import of ROAM equipment from the Helix Q7000 follows a series of breakbulk imports at the Port of Bunbury including more than 23,700 tonnes of steel modules and equipment required for Albemarle’s lithium processing plant at Kemerton and components of the 18 wind turbines for Flat Rocks Wind Farm.
Steve Nairn, Helix Well Ops UK Vice President, said because of the unique design of the vessel, few Australian ports were suitable to take it.
“The Q7000 hasn’t docked since it was at Geelong Port in December 2023 mobilising critical equipment required to perform safe decommissioning operations in the Bass Strait,” Mr Nairn said.
“With the need to unload, we looked across Australia to find a suitable port, but there are few ports that could take the vessel due to her weight, size, and logistics for removing the equipment. We were thrilled to discover that the Port of Bunbury ticked all of our boxes.”
The six-metre-high piece of equipment, originally from the USA, will be trucked to a warehouse in Perth.
The crew onboard the Helix Q7000 come from across the globe including the United Kingdom, Europe, United States, and Australia.
Following the five-day visit to the Port of Bunbury, the Q7000 is headed north up the coast of Western Australia.
Southern Ports’ Port of Bunbury facilitates more than 18 million tonnes of bulk exports each year including spodumene, alumina, woodchips, and grain, as well as breakbulk items such as infrastructure equipment and wind turbine components.
