The Western Australian (WA) government has identified its preferred site for the relocation of its container terminal operations currently based in Fremantle.
The port, which handles almost all the container cargo for the state, is running out of capacity and occupies prime real estate in the Fremantle Inner Harbour in Perth, that officials say could be better used for the city.
The government has called for the relocation of the container operations from its current location to Kwinana, about 15 miles to the south, uniting the container operations with existing bulk cargo operations.
The container operations, known as the Westport Project will be located adjacent to the existing Outer Harbour, a major bulk cargo port handling grain, petroleum, liquid petroleum gas, alumina, mineral sands, fertilizers, coal, sulphur, iron ore and other commodities.
According to government officials, the Westport Taskforce explored 25 different locations ranging from Fremantle to Cockburn Sound and Bunbury during the planning stages of the new container terminal, before choosing the preferred location.
The port currently handles imports and exports of around 800 000 containers with terminals operated by DP World and Patrick Terminals.
However, the port infrastructure and surrounding roads are expected to reach capacity within the next two decades.
The port needs to grow capacity to more than three million containers over the next 50 years.
