Regional ports are future focused
As the custodians of three gateways that connect WA to world markets, Southern Ports takes their responsibility as corporate citizens seriously.
Southern Ports proudly operates the regional ports of Albany, Bunbury and Esperance in Western Australia.
We are passionate about creating value for the communities in which we operate and the customers who use our facilities. We achieve this in consultation with the communities we work within, to ensure their needs are considered in all stages of planning and development.
Our ports — Albany, Bunbury and Esperance — play an important role in connecting WA with trade products from around the world. Our trade covers a broad range of product, reflective of the diverse economies of our regions. Our core strategic direction centres on our vision — “strong regional ports, strong regions”.
As the custodians of three gateways that connect WA to world markets, we take our responsibility as corporate citizens seriously.
We know that by fostering strong regional ports, we will contribute directly to supporting strong regions, delivering economic and social benefits for our communities.
As the COVID-19 pandemic overtook the world in early 2020, Southern Ports implemented our response early, and prioritised our efforts on protecting our workforce and the people in our communities, and on keeping
our ports open.
While we recognise that the real impact of COVID-19 will not be known for quite some time, we continue to focus on driving investment and expansion across all three of our sites, addressing the needs of our current clients and actively seeking new business throughout the region. Looking at our ports individually, each port offers a unique value proposition to our current and prospective clients.
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Albany
The Albany Port is surrounded by a pristine natural environment and a community with a strong drive for sustainable living.
This culture supports the Albany Port’s strategic focus to become one of the world’s fully sustainable ports.
And this grassroots endeavour is being driven by
our Albany workforce, and continues to position the port as an attractive facility and asset.
The main exports from Albany include woodchips,
grain and silica sand, while main imports include fuel and fertiliser.
There is substantial capacity for the port to grow within its current infrastructure and geographical footprint, and opportunities for growth will
be further investigated in the coming year.
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Bunbury
The Bunbury Port sits in the centre of WA’s largest urban centre, and is the gateway to the thriving southwest region. The port’s exports include alumina, mineral sands, spodumene,
silica sand and woodchips, while imports include mineral sands and caustic soda.
As the southwest region continues to grow, so does the importance of the Bunbury Port. The port is well positioned, with a considerable area of land available to support future expansion and the creation of new berths.
Strong connections to the regional road and rail networks mean that the port is well placed to continue supporting the economic growth of WA.
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Esperance
The Esperance Port is the deepest port on the southern coast of Australia, with major exports including nickel, grain, iron ore and woodchips, while imports include fuel, fertilisers, containers and sulphur.
The WA state government recently announced more than $10m investment into priority works at the Esperance Port, which will help create opportunities for increased
trade and local jobs.
This work includes an additional container hardstand demolition works to optimise available land and maximise trade growth, investment into
a hardstand at Berth 2, improvements to stormwater systems and the sealing of internal roads.
This significant investment will optimise available land, maximise trade growth, facilitate the resumption of full capacity nickel trade and deliver superior environmental performance.
The Port of Esperance is well positioned to welcome new business, and we are actively engaging with potential exporters throughout the region.
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Across all our sites, we have commenced detailed work on supply chain analysis, which will provide significant benefit to new and existing customers, as well as identifying worthwhile investments in the supply chain to support trade growth in all three ports.
This work will complement our masterplanning processes, as we develop comprehensive plans for Albany, Bunbury and Esperance during the next 12 months.
This will confidently set the capital investment plan for the next three years and beyond, as well as providing a 30-year context for development, trade growth and sustainability.
We are open for business across our three ports, and we are excited about what our future holds.
Steve Lewis is chief executive of Southern Ports.