The price tag for Western Australia’s new container port has jumped by more than $2.5 billion.
After two-and-a-half years of planning the Westport business case has been handed to the government revealing a cost of $7.2 billion in today’s dollars compared to the $4.7 billion the project was originally slated to cost in 2020.
The original date for opening in 2032 has also been scratched with completion now expected late next decade.
The latest iteration of the port announced by Premier Roger Cook and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti on Monday will not be built in stages, but rather all at once. When it opens all container freight will be moved from Fremantle to Kwinana.
Cook revealed $273 million would be spent on project definition planning, finalising designs, resolving remaining risks and uncertainties and fine-tuning costings and construction strategies.
He said the latest business case found that Fremantle Port was rapidly reaching capacity and the work needed to start immediately.
Westport will be our most epic project yet, our most important piece of economic infrastructure in this century
Roger Cook
“Under current projections, it will reach capacity by the late 2030 and the port isn’t capable of handling the next generation of bigger and more efficient cargo ships,” he said.
“Doing nothing is simply not an option because if we reach capacity at Fremantle report without an alternative port, we face a very embarrassing and expensive problem, and that is getting even more of our freight shipped from the East Coast and transported back to WA by road and rail.
“Westport will be our most epic project yet, our most important piece of economic infrastructure in this century.”
The Labor government began planning for the new container port terminal after being elected in 2017 and has spent the past two-and-a-half years working out the best design for the facility.
Westport Kwinana container terminal port artist impression.
When Westport is completed more than 260 hectares of land at Fremantle Port will be opened for development.
Westport faces significant opposition from environmental groups and anglers for its impact on the Cockburn Sound.
The Maritime Union has also expressed anger at the level of automation planned for the new facility and its impact on jobs.
“I met with the MUA just last week, and this topic came up, they understand the importance of Westport,” Cook said.
“Obviously, they’ve got some anxieties ... that you might see large area levels of automation.
“But the experiences around the world is that automation only really bites into large job numbers when you get around about the 3 million container units of container movements a year so they’re pretty they’re pretty comfortable with Westport.”
Saffioti said she was confident environmental approvals would be secured within two to three years thanks to ongoing mapping and monitoring of the sound.
“The past two to three years, we’ve been undertaking monitoring. We’ve engaged with the Marine Science Institute. Having that work done early, I’ve got to say, I think will very much clear that pathway,” she said.
Kwinana Industries Council chief executive David Harrison welcomed the release of the business plan but said the state now needed to begin investing in infrastructure around the Kwinana industrial area.
MUA WA was contacted for comment.
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