Supply chain, environment key port considerations

WA will be waiting until at least 2030 before an outer harbour development is needed, and in the meantime work is being done to evaluate the best ways to extend the life of Fremantle Port. 

Westport Taskforce chair Nicole Lockwood is tight-lipped about when she thinks Perth will eventually need a new port, but she’s very clear it will be at least a decade.

“It’s definitely 10-plus [years],” Ms Lockwood told Business News.

“Then it’s a question of the efficiency of the supply chain into Fremantle.”

(click here to see a PDF of the full four-article special report)

Similarly, approvals planning, feasibility and funding would need at least a decade, she said.

Evaluating supply chains and infrastructure requirements leads the taskforce’s current remit, with more clarity expected in coming months before a final report at year’s end.

The committee’s December 2018 update showed Fremantle port would be able to grow container trade for potentially three decades, with modelling by Deloitte estimating it would reach capacity of 2.1 million containers in around 2050.

The real pressure point is the road and rail connections into the inner harbour.

For rail freight, Ms Lockwood said, the single link across the Swan River to North Quay, which is shared with passenger trains, was the major constraint.

“The supply chain itself is only as strong as the weakest link and that is the weakest link,” she said.

It was the only part of the state’s network where freight and passenger lines were not duplicated, Ms Lockwood added.

Potential solutions under evaluation included an additional rail bridge, a tunnel, extending operating hours, and new intermodal terminals to reduce pressure on the network, Ms Lockwood said.

The other issue would be road links into the port, which was a controversial topic during the 2017 state election battle over the extension of Roe Highway.

“Road is more complicated because we have a fairly focused pathway into the port,” Ms Lockwood said.

“We have basically one route in.

“That’s a good thing for all the other roads and a bad thing for that one road.

“So the question is what’s the growth capacity of Leach Highway?”

Longer operating hours at the port were again a possible solution, with trucks moving earlier or later in the day.

Other alternatives were dedicated lanes on the highway, traffic signalling coordination, or road widening.

“Infrastructure Australia in its business case process requires you to step through all the options of how you solve a problem, and they always want to understand what are the non-build solutions,” Ms Lockwood said.

Any development at Kwinana, or the alternative, Bunbury, would also require infrastructure investment.

The single track linking Kwinana and Cockburn is already at maximum capacity, according to the December report, while double stacking of containers on the route to Kewdale would need 10 bridges and 25 power lines to be raised.

Inefficient loading and unloading was a problem on the South West Main rail line into Bunbury, Ms Lockwood said, while there would need to be extensions of the 11 passing loops between Mundijong and Bunbury.

Double stacking of rail cars on the route would also need consideration as part of stage two works by the committee, the report said.

Environmental

Just as the Roe 8 debate was headlined by environmental concerns, a port development in Cockburn Sound has raised concerns about the impact on seagrass and local fish species.

Knight Management Services owner Stephen Knight, who is also second rear commodore of the Cockburn Power Boats Association, told Business News he was uneasy about the impact on the environment and on the community.

“Over my life I’ve always seen things from a business perspective,” Mr Knight said.

“This is probably the first ever environmental thing I’ve fought because it’s something I believe in.

“If Westport proceeds it will have massive implications on the environmental aspect of Cockburn Sound.

“You’re looking really at the total destruction of Cockburn Sound.”

The Westport Taskforce’s work so far found Kwinana had the most environmental hotspots of the three locations considered, with 16 on land and 18 in the water.

But there was more work to be done to determine exactly how significant the impact would be, or if it could be ameliorated, according to Ms Lockwood.

Mr Knight said building a turning circle, dredging new channels, and having bigger ships anchoring would significantly damage seagrass and habitats for sealife, including squid and crabs.

“Many of our members use Cockburn Sound for fishing because it’s a protected waterway,” he said.

“It’s also the second large fish habitat spawning ground for pink snapper in WA.”

Mr Knight’s other concern was safety, with hundreds of recreational vessel movements in the sound on busy summer days.

At the existing inner harbour, he said, recreational vessels would usually be entering or exiting into the ocean, whereas boats within Cockburn Sound were moving in all directions.

“There have been close calls in the past … this is only going to escalate,” Mr Knight said.

OzFish Unlimited senior program manager Andrew Matthews said the seagrass meadows had retreated from about 4,000 hectares in the 1960s to 900ha today.

Mr Matthews is heading up a program called Seeds for Snapper in which community members are replanting seagrass in the sound.

He told Business News he was concerned about the environmental impact of a new port, particular on pink snapper breeding.

Mr Matthews predicted the level of community support behind his rehabilitation program suggested there would be opposition to the port proposal when it materialised.

Ms Lockwood said the time period before a new harbour would be needed provided an opportunity for investment into mitigation measures and research to protect the seagrass.

“Potentially we can build some resilience ahead of any impact so that we’re actually drawing on a new value (asset) and not eroding what already exists,” she said.

“Infrastructure planning is evolving and we’re trying to be at the forefront of best practice.

“Everything will have to be a compromise. There will have to be trade offs.”

Ms Lockwood noted that a lot of previous work had been done to consider alternative locations for a new port, and all had drawbacks.

That included at Geraldton, Wilbinga, Breton Bay, North Fremantle, Catherine Point, Jervoise Bay, Rockingham Wells Park, Mangles Bay, and Quinns Rocks.

Some had environmental issues, some were too close to urban areas, and in the case of more regional ports, the cost of surrounding infrastructure and transport would be prohibitive.

Fremantle thriving

While this work continues, Fremantle Ports had a strong year, with traffic up 7.5 per cent to 770,000 containers in the 2018 financial year.

That compares with 744,000 in 2015, followed by two years of lower numbers.

Manager of corporate and community relations, Neil Stanbury, touted a solid performance in the federal government’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics’ most recent Waterline report.

Mr Stanbury said Fremantle had the best container and truck turnaround times of any of the five mainland capital city ports, and a crane rate of 34 containers per hour, which he said was higher than the five-port average.

About 18.4 per cent of containers were moved on rail in the second half of 2018, he said.

“Fremantle Ports’ annual truck survey last year found that, since 2014 and despite increasing trade throughput, truck numbers have fallen on average by 5 per cent a year,” Mr Stanbury said.

“Container truck numbers in 2018 remained at 2010 levels, even though trade increased by 38 per cent over that time. 

“The port and associated freight industry have become more efficient in terms of carrying more containers per truck than other ports. 

“We’re also putting more on rail. 

“A lot of work has gone into making the freight connections more efficient overall.

“Trucks create community sensitivities, of course, but we continue to work hard to look for innovative ways to minimise the impact on our roads and address public concerns.” 

Qube state manager WA, Matthew Bronickis, said improvements in trucking technology had helped alleviate some pressures in the port.

“Five years ago, (when) everybody used to turn up to return their container, there was lots of congestion,” Mr Bronickis told Business News.

“Now, everybody has to abide by time slots and it’s controlled by technology, so there’s a nice even flow going through the yard.

“Turn times are a lot less. No waiting times.”

Two other factors ould have helped alleviate congestion: subsidies for increased rail transport of containers, and an expansion of North Quay in 2014.

Arc Infrastructure, which operates the state’s freight rail network, also has plans in the pipeline to reduce truck congestion into North Quay, principally by improving inland terminal capacity, according to executive director Murray Cook.

“We are working on an integrated and networked strategy, which involves the development of new purpose-built inland intermodal terminals, immediately adjacent to neighbouring industrial users, that would alleviate this constraint and facilitate more containers on the rail and through the port,” Mr Cook said.

With work on an outer harbour still some time off, the state government has moved to lock in leases for the two container terminals at the port.

DP World and Patrick have operated the terminals since 1997, and negotiations are under way for both to continue at the harbour when their contracts expire in June, until at least 2026.

The port will have discretion for two seven-year extensions, pending the outcome of the Westport review.

One major investment at Fremantle port was completed in January, a $3.3 million redevelopment of the passenger terminal, while a working group has been appointed to plan a development of Victoria Quay and South Quay.