Len Buckeridge has stepped up plans for a $278 million privately operated container port near Kwinana, with the release of environmental scoping documents for the massive development.
Len Buckeridge has stepped up plans for a $278 million privately operated container port near Kwinana, with the release of environmental scoping documents for the massive development.
The Environmental Protection Authority this week put plans for the second stage of the private port proposed by the Buckeridge-controlled James Point consortium at Kwinana out for public comment.
James Point hopes to start construction in mid 2013, enabling the facility to begin operations in late 2015.
At 1.2 million containers a year, the facility would have doubled the handling capacity of existing container facilities at Fremantle. James Point also plans a further expansion that would increase its container handling capacity to more than 1.8 million a year.
The facility could significantly ease traffic congestion in and out of Fremantle, due to better rail and road access, meaning fewer heavy trucks entering the port city.
Though final designs will depend on detailed environmental studies, the container facility will incorporate two berths at a 700 metre long land-backed wharf.
Under the proposal, 73 hectares of land will be reclaimed for container operations, requiring up to 1.26 million cubic metres of material to be dredged from the bottom of Cockburn Sound.
The release of scoping documents comes almost six years after James Point received environmental approvals for its proposed stage one bulk goods port, forecast to cost $144 million, at the Kwinana site.
Though James Point signed an operating agreement with the WA government in 2000 and still expects to complete the bulk goods port by late 2012, development has been delayed by wrangling over the region’s long-term port needs amid forecasts Fremantle will hit full capacity around 2017.
Consequently, the port authority is planning its own Kwinana Quay ‘island’ facility, which would partly overlap James Point’s land-backed proposal.
The prospects of both proposals now hinge on Transport Minister Simon O’Brien’s response to a confidential report by the Fremantle Ports Optimum Planning Group.
Though the report was submitted months ago, the minister has so far declined to indicate when the government’s response will be announced.
James Point’s container port push comes amid strong criticism of the state government’s efforts to reduce heavy vehicle traffic in and out of Fremantle harbour.
Under fire in parliament this month, Mr O’Brien conceded that the number of containers moved through Fremantle by rail was expected to drop by almost 30 per cent this financial year despite a government subsidy to make rail more cost competitive.
However, while total container movements were forecast to fall by just more than 4 per cent to 542,600 for the year, the number carried by road was actually expected to increase to 481,100 – just over 1,000 more than in the previous year.
Industry insiders attribute the decline to both reduced demand for containerised goods following the global slowdown and the deregulation of wheat exports last year.
Previously, some producers had exported grain in containers solely to get around AWB’s export monopoly, compounding the impact of a fall in bulk shipping charges after the global slowdown.
Some producers have also chosen to export grain in containers from the east coast.