T-Ports expands to Yorke Peninsula with Wallaroo project

A new port is being planned for the Yorke Peninsula, with T-Ports putting in a development application to build a new receival facility at Wallaroo.

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A new port is being planned for the Yorke Peninsula, with T-Ports putting in a development application to build a new receival facility at Wallaroo.

The port is expected to have an annual grain throughput of up to 500,000 tonnes and will be built west of the township.

Work is likely to begin next year, with the company aiming to have the site operational by 2021.

The development will include the port, loading facilities and bunker storage, to be constructed in two phases.

In the first phase, silo facilities with about 32,000 tonnes of storage will be set up.

The second phase will involve the construction of bunkers with storage capacity of up to 250,000 tonnes of grain.

A concept image of T-Ports' proposed grain receival facility and port at Wallaroo.

T-Ports is also well advanced with its Eyre Peninsula project, which was announced in March last year.

The Eyre Peninsula project involves a new port that is currently being built at Lucky Bay near Cowell.

Bunker storage at Lucky Bay and Lock, which will feed into the Lucky Bay port, has also been completed by the company.

Both the Yorke and Eyre Peninsula projects will use transhipment, with a smaller feeder vessel taking grain from a shallow water port to a larger vessel waiting in deeper water.

T-Ports chief executive Kieran Carvill said plenty of work had already gone into the Yorke Peninsula project, with scoping studies done on the coastal environment, shoreline, inland freight networks and the facility’s economic feasibility.

“The port at Wallaroo is the logical next step in the T-Ports journey and we are at a stage now where we are seeking the next stage of approvals with the relevant state government agencies and the Copper Coast Council,” he said.

“There are efficiencies and cost savings in building this port on the opposite side of the Spencer Gulf to Lucky Bay, as we will utilise the same transhipment vessel, the “Lucky Eyre’.”

The vessel is currently having material handling systems installed in China ahead of arrival in Australian waters later this year.

Mr Carvill said the construction process at Wallaroo was expected to taken between 12 and 18 months.

“During that phase we will look to utilise South Australian expertise and contractors, as we have done at Lucky Bay,” he said.

“We expect the Wallaroo port and bunker site to employ up to 60 people. Some of these would be casuals during peak periods such as harvest and shipping outturn.”