The storm that hit Esperance earlier this month has done little to halt trade from Esperance Port, which has recently set export records.
The storm that hit Esperance earlier this month has done little to halt trade from Esperance Port, which has recently set export records.
While the storm significantly affected Esperance’s commercial fishing sector, leaving many vessels beached in Bandy Creek boat harbour, Esperance Port Authority chief executive Colin Stewart told WA Business News the storm had little impact on trade.
“We were fortunate not to have any grain ships in the port so there was no impact on exports in the grain industry,” Mr Stewart said.
“We did have an iron ore ship loading, which was delayed 48 hours. In terms of physical impact…it was very minimal.”
This was good news for the port, which has notched up a number of records in 2005-06 including total port trade of more than 8.3 million tonnes, an increase of 535,040t on the previous year’s record of 7.8mt.
Iron ore exports of 6mt made up more than 75 per cent of the 7.94mt of total trade out of Esperance.
Total grain exports made up 1.64mt, a fall of 8.4 per cent from the previous year’s 1.8mt, with the decrease the result of a smaller-than-expected harvest.
Mr Stewart expected grain to remain steady for 2007, while iron ore exports would increase with Portman’s Koolyanobbing iron ore project increasing its throughput to 8mt by the end of 2007, up from 6mt in 2005-06.
He also said the Ravensthorp nickel operation would be coming online in the second half of this year which, at full production, would result in 200,000t of nickel cobalt hydroxide exported from the port.
“The port anticipates handling another 40 ships a year when this project begins,” Mr Stewart told WA Business News.
Late last year, the port also set two records with the shipment of its largest single cargo of 200,000t of lump iron ore and its largest nickel load of 32,000t.
The previous record was for 178,156t of iron ore and 27,000t of nickel.
Another highlight has been Integrated Tree Cropping Ltd’s plan for a proposed multi-million dollar loading facility at the port.
ITC revealed it would look to export 500,000t of woodchips annually from Esperance port after it bought a potential plantation site near the town in 2005.
“In terms of quantity, it is modest,” Mr Stewart said.
“But it’s another trade to the port and it’s a sustainable product, which will add further value.”
There is also the possibility of Golden West Resources exporting iron ore from Esperance after its announcement last year of an option to lease part of the Esperance port for export from its Wiluna iron ore project.
While Esperance port remained relatively unscathed, Bandy Creek boat harbour was not so lucky, with a number of vessels trapped on the sand that settled in the harbour after massive flooding that followed the storm, dubbed a 'once-in-a-lifetime' event.
Excavation of thousands of tonnes of sand has commenced, with the Department of Planning and Infrastructure expecting full commercial fishing operations to resume by the end of this month.
