International oil and gas giant Chevron has signed Chris Corrigan's Qube Logistics to beef up its port capacity to service the massive Gorgon project on Barrow Island.
Qube announced yesterday its primary tasks under the contract would be loading and unloading of freight moving between Fremantle and Chevron's operations on Barrow Island.
Works are scheduled to begin by the end of the month.
The contract marks the first time Chevron has used Fremantle Port for its Gorgon supply chain, with materials having been moved in the past exclusively from the Australian Marine Complex in Henderson.
The move to add capacity and improve the efficiency of its port operations comes in the wake of a public stoush between Chevron and the Maritime Union of Australia, which have been at odds over the efficiency of the gas giant's port operations.
The MUA released figures earlier this week that claimed it took an average 95 days to unload and load a barge headed to Barrow Island at the AMC, compared with an average 132 days at Chevron's Barrow Island port.
The union claims are in direct contrast to Chevron's assertions that cost blowouts at Gorgon had come in part because unionised dock workers at the AMC can take up to three times longer to load a ship than in any other port in the world.
Media reports over the weekend indicated that materials for Gorgon were banking up at the AMC, but the MUA has since denied any congestion at Henderson.
A Chevron spokesperson told Business News that the MUA figures did not take into consideration weather conditions or sea levels at Barrow Island, which can differ greatly from conditions experienced at Fremantle Port.
"When the impacts of weather and swell conditions are taken into account the Barrow Island port is at least twice as efficient as the AMC," the spokesperson said.
