Esperance port gets $12m for roads

The state government will spend more than $12 million on road upgrades at the Port of Esperance, building on work already undertaken at the Southern Ports facility.

The $12.2 investment will deliver the second and third stages of a three-year staged program designed to renew essential infrastructure at the Esperance export hub.

It will come on top of an initial $7.4 million upgrade to Hughes Road, the sole heavy vehicle access road into and out of the port.

Future work will include reconstruction of degraded areas of road pavement on existing roads and changes to the port access intersection to accommodate the significant growth in large, b-triple road trains using the facility.

Once complete, heavy vehicles are expected to have easier access to the port through a more streamlined route, avoiding unsafe interactions and challenging turning circles.

WA Ports Minister David Michael said the upgrades were critical as the diversification of industry in the region continued.

Esperance is now the third-largest spodumene port in the world, and the region’s second-largest employer.

“Almost all of the Port of Esperance’s non-iron ore trade is transported by road, so as the port continues to diversify beyond its traditional iron ore base the delivery of quality road infrastructure is essential,” Mr Michael said.

“This investment prioritises the safety of our road users and port workers, while also positioning the Port of Esperance to accommodate trade growth.”

The Port of Esperance is the only deepwater port in the southern region and one of only two container crane ports in the state, with more than 300,000 truck movements each year.

It had a trade throughput of 13.6 million tonnes in FY23 – almost half of which was transported by road – predominantly grain, spodumene, nickel, fertiliser and sulphur.

The investment caps a big month for the government-owned Southern Ports – the operator of the ports at Albany, Bunbury and Esperance – which won Port of the Year at the Australian Shipping and Maritime Industry Awards on November 15.