IN a time when government infrastructure funding is at a premium, Fremantle Ports has a rare claim – its multi-million dredging program has come without a net cost to the enterprise or public purse.
IN a time when government infrastructure funding is at a premium, Fremantle Ports has a rare claim – its multi-million dredging program has come without a net cost to the enterprise or public purse.
That’s because the highly publicised operation to deepen the harbour at the mouth of the Swan River – thought to have cost around $100 million – also resulted in the creation of 27 hectares of new land.
Reclaimed from the sea on the northwestern edge of the Rous Head, the new land has the twin virtue of being inner city industrial land and having waterfront vantage point.
In its annual report, Fremantle Ports didn’t spell out the cost of the dredging, which is part of a $261 million development that includes 180 metres of new quay.
However, the value of works in progress leapt from $50.5 million at June 30 2009 to $160.7 million in the last financial year.
“A valuable by-product of the dredging campaign was the creation of an additional 27 hectares of land for port use,” said Fremantle Ports chairman Alan Birchmore in the 2010 annual report tabled in parliament last week.
Fremantle Ports is looking at leasing the new land and some of its existing operational land by early next year.
The harbour works attracted significant criticism from local interest groups concerned about the environmental impact of the dredging.
Mr Birchmore said the works were necessary to ensure a new generation of container vessels could berth at the 113-year-old port.
The alternative, he said, was to allow these bigger ships to bypass WA, which would reduce the state’s competitiveness.
A second phase of the dredging program is taking place between August and November this year.
The redevelopment went on during a year when trade dipped slightly to 26.2 million tonnes in the 12 months to June 30, a 1.6 per cent decrease on the record 26.6 million mass tonnes the previous year.
Fremantle Ports said the main reason for the decrease in trade volume was a 5 per cent drop in commodities shipped via the inner harbour, particularly containerised wheat exports. Imports fell by 3.5 per cent while exports increased by 0.1 per cent for the period.
Despite the fall in trade, the port managed to increase net profit for the last financial year to almost $14.7 million, compared to just over $13.7 million in the 12 months prior.
One consequence of the global financial crisis was a big slump in the amount of land-based movement of cargo by rail.
Rail haulage amounted to 11 per cent of trade, compared to 15 per cent the previous year. That compares to a long-term target of 30 per cent.
