Westport’s Cockburn Sound Consultation Hub
We know from conversations with people at our community events and our recent community survey results, that safeguarding the environmental health of Cockburn Sound is the number one priority the community wants Westport to get right.
We have a lot of work to do over the coming years including further consultation with the community and stakeholders who are passionate about the marine environment and recreational values of Cockburn Sound. Consultation will include opportunities to provide feedback directly with our team and partners, and through consultation run by State and Federal regulators.
We are asking everyone with an interest in Cockburn Sound to sign up to our new Cockburn Sound Consultation Hub. Be the first to hear the latest about Westport’s planning in Cockburn Sound and opportunities to have your say.
To register your details please follow this link: Westport's Cockburn Sound Consultation Hub: register to be informed and have your say.
Seagrass restoration gets major funding boost
The future of seagrass in Cockburn Sound has received a major boost, with Westport providing $730,000 to fund new seagrass restoration activities in an around Cockburn Sound.
The funding will support:
- Seeds for Snapper – a well-known community seagrass restoration program run by OzFish.
- An Australian first trial of robotic seagrass seed injection technology.
These two programs complement each other with the aim of substantially scaling up seagrass restoration activities. They are underpinned by the latest seagrass science developed through the WAMSI-Westport Marine Science Program.
Seeds for Snapper is one of the largest community driven seagrass restoration initiative underway in Australia, aiming to restore Posidonia australis meadows in Cockburn Sound and Owen Anchorage. Volunteer divers collect seagrass fruit and disperse seeds at pre-selected sites across Owen Anchorage and Kwinana Shelf to regenerate seagrass beds.
Westport’s $500,000 in funding will assist OzFish’s Seeds for Snapper program enabling the expansion of its operations and restoration activities.
This year’s Seeds for Snapper season also supported the Australian-first trial of the Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering seagrass seed injection robot, managed by UWA and provided with $230,000 in funding by Westport.
Using seeds collected by Seeds for Snapper, the Ulysses robot delivers seagrass seeds in a single stream directly into the sediment, improving the likelihood of germination as compared to manual methods of seagrass restoration, where seagrass seeds are being dispersed into the water by hand.
The results of the trial will not be known until March, but if successful it will substantially help increase seagrass restoration activities in Cockburn Sound, and the rest of Australia.
Westport staff also had the opportunity to help sort Posidonia seeds as part of the seed preparation process during the recent Seeds for Snapper season.
Funding initiatives like Seeds for Snapper is part of Westport’s ongoing and long-term commitment to deliver substantial seagrass restoration before and after development of the new port facilities, to support the long-term health of Cockburn Sound.
Westport receives green light for next stage
November marked a big milestone for Westport.
The State Government committed $273 million to progress Westport and released the Westport Business Case Summary – Securing Our Future.
The Summary highlights 3 years of work, showcasing how we’ve arrived at a preferred design, transition plan, timing recommendation, and proposed commercial model. Read now.
Where are we now?
Westport has now officially entered Stage 4: Definition and Delivery, which is expected to run from the mid-2020s until the late 2030s.
The recent funding will support Westport through the definition phase, helping us finalise designs, secure approvals, resolve risks and uncertainties, acquire land, and refine costs and construction strategies.
The definition phase will significantly progress the port and channel design, enabling Westport to better articulate potential environmental impacts and opportunities to minimise or manage those impacts. This knowledge will inform the ongoing assessment process with both the State and Commonwealth regulators.
Over the next few years, Westport will work to secure environmental approvals, leading to a final investment decision. Construction would only commence once approvals have been granted.
We will continue to engage with industry and the community throughout Stage 4. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Westport Business Case Summary – what we found
Here is a snapshot of the key findings from the Westport Business Case Summary.
1. To meet future demand, Western Australia needs a future-ready container port.
With WA’s population and international trade on the rise, an efficient port and supply chain is critical. As an isolated state, WA relies heavily on imports which arrive through Fremantle Port or are transported overland from east coast ports.
Fremantle Port, the gateway to WA’s $445 billion economy, is the only major container port on Australia’s west coast. It currently has a maximum practical capacity (MPC) of 1.4 million containers per year.
Under a moderate trade scenario, and without investment, Fremantle Port is expected to reach capacity by 2040 – or even as early as the mid-2030s with higher trade volumes.
2. Delays in port investment could significantly impact WA’s economy.
If new port capacity is not ready in time, WA could face significant challenges. In a worst-case scenario, vessels might bypass WA altogether, forcing reliance on east coast ports with containers transported overland.
This would more than triple transport costs per container for WA businesses and emit an additional 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (equivalent) over the first 10 years.
Significantly higher trade costs would adversely impact many industries, reducing trade and business activity and driving up prices on everyday goods.
Without timely investment, the first 10 years could reduce WA’s economy by $11 billion (in today’s dollars), climbing to $244 billion by the mid-2070s. Planning ahead is crucial to protect WA’s future prosperity.
3. Fremantle is not a viable container port in the long-term.
The business case also confirmed that due to a wide range of issues and constraints, any option to extend the life of Fremantle Port would only be an interim measure and the move to Kwinana would still be required.
- Land availability within the port precinct and around the port is limited, with only 180 hectares available for all trade operations (including non-container trades).
- Ship sizes on Australian shipping routes will increase beyond Fremantle Port’s current capacity, forcing shipping companies to bypass Perth for east coast ports.
- Single-line freight rail link to Fremantle Port is shared with commuter rail traffic, limiting the number of trains operating per day. The rail bridge over the Swan River would need to be duplicated by the mid-2030s but would still reach capacity limitations by the mid-2040s.
- Major road upgrades would be needed. Without these upgrades, increasing congestion would pose a growing risk to port performance, as well as increasing the costs of moving containers on and off the port.
- Truck movements and general traffic will more than double by 2051. Trucks would be driving through residential areas, raising safety and noise concerns for hundreds of homes and businesses. Increased congestion would reduce the reliability of truck travel times, negatively impacting port performance and increasing turn-servicing times for vessels.
4. Moving container trade from Fremantle to Kwinana by the late 2030s offers the most value.
Three options were evaluated to determine when and how container trade should transition to Kwinana to achieve the best value for WA:
- Run two ports simultaneously
- Upgrade Fremantle Port to extend to the late 2040s
- Develop Westport and move container trade in the late-2030s.
Feedback from key industry stakeholders was overwhelmingly clear – cost increases and inefficiencies would be prohibitive for the dual-port system (option 1).
Extending Fremantle to the 2040s (option 2) would accommodate increased container throughput, but not address limited land availability, increasing road congestion and rail capacity limits. This would become cost-prohibitive past the 2040s, forcing the construction of Westport.
Westport’s recommendation is to transition to Kwinana in the late-2030s (option 3), as it provides the best outcomes for WA. It avoids expensive and short-lived upgrades to Fremantle Port and increases opportunities for construction collaboration with other major projects, such as METRONET and Defence projects.
Check out our latest Navigate Newsletter
Topics explored in our technical Navigate newsletter for November include Westport's Business Case Summary and our recent Market Briefing. Read now.
