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The WA Government says the move to a new $7.2 billion Westport container port at Kwinana is now entering its final planning stages.
The work involves completion of designs, securing approvals, resolving risks, land acquisition, and refining costs and construction strategies ahead of the award of capital works contracts for construction.
The government is spending $273m on the final planning stage.
“Westport will underpin WA’s economy and local jobs for generations to come,” Premier Roger Cook says.
“WA is a trading state, and our container port supports the entire state economy – we cannot let our only container port run out of room.”
A business case reveals that Fremantle Port is expected to reach capacity of 1.4 million containers a year by 2040, or mid-2030s, with congestion on the surrounding road and rail networks.
It found that a failure to act could cost the WA economy $244 billion in coming decades (an average of $5 billion per year).
“Delaying action on Westport is a risk to our economy,” Cook says.
“Without Westport, the cost of everything will go up, and we will be reliant on road and rail from the eastern states – hurting households, businesses and the economy.
“It will integrate our premier industrial and trade areas with our premier international trade gateway … projects like this require long-term vision that transcend the Government of the day,” Cook says.
WA Transport Minister Rita Saffiot says “the business case is clear”.
“Failure to act on the future constraints to container trade will cost our state dearly …
“Westport will be one of the largest infrastructure projects undertaken in the state, catalysing industry and local businesses and creating thousands of jobs during the construction phase.”
Ports Minister David Michael says planning for a transition in the late 2030s away from Freemantle will ensure they make the most of the current port.
“Westport will also pave the way for redeveloping the Kwinana Bulk Terminal through an integrated design, to be constructed ahead of the new container terminal,” he says.
The preferred design includes a container terminal adjacent to the Kwinana Bulk Terminal; a new breakwater, major upgrades to key freight roads leading to and from the new container terminal including Anketell Road, Kwinana Freeway and Roe Highway; duplication of the freight rail between the container terminal and Cockburn; and upgrades to key intermodal terminals (IMT) at Kenwick and Forrestfield, and the delivery of a new IMT at Kewdale.
FREMANTLE PORT
The business case confirmed that extending the life of Fremantle Port will still require Westport to be built, less than 10 years later, costing an extra $2.2 billion.
Container trade through Fremantle grew by nearly 6 per cent last financial year, or nearly an extra 50,000 containers, compared to the year before, the government says.
WA’s population is expected to grow to 3.6 million people by 2036, fuelling further growth in demand for container trade.
The business case says major road and rail projects such as widening the Kwinana Freeway and upgrades to Anketell Road will be required which will also tackle existing congestion bottlenecks, develop Western Trade Coast and enable a major expansion of our defence industry.
A new container terminal in Kwinana will be able to accommodate larger, more efficient vessels, increasing containers moved by rail an extra 10 per cent, improve efficiency, create thousands of jobs during construction and afterwards, and unlock around 260 hectares of inner urban land in Fremantle to deliver homes for around 55,000 people.
The Federal Government has designated Westport as a nationally critical project and given $33.5 million towards the next phase of planning with more funding to come.
Details available by clicking here: Westport Business Case Executive Summary
