The WA government is investing in upgrading the port so it can increase its export capabilities
The Western Australian government is announcing it will invest in expanding the Port of Geraldton to increase the port authority’s capacity to store and provide valuable materials for the state.
The planned growth will increase the port to 25mn t/yr from the current 15mn t/yr, allowing the port to export iron ore, grains and battery minerals as well as allowing for ammonia exports.
The WA government will invest $332 million into expanding the Geraldton port by 2026, with works including the debottlenecking of existing grain and iron ore export facilities.
The funding boost will also help Port Geraldton to build new storage and product handling facilities that can cater for the growing hydrogen and ammonia industries in WA.
Currently the port says it is operating on the border of its maximum capacity and can’t increase grains shipments after a bumper harvest as it already can’t cater for iron ore expansions plans of the Karara iron ore project.
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WA’s state grain logistics firm CBH says that at all four major terminals in WA there are reportedly no spare grain export capacities before October, which is when the new harvest begins in northern WA.
There is reportedly congestion at Geraldton, Kwinana, Albany and Esperance, with this backlog coming despite CBH increasing its shipping capacity by 540,000 tonnes in March following the start of the Russia/ Ukraine conflict.
The upgrades will take maximum effort according to the port, as the first stage to reach 15.4mn t/yre of concentrate demands a significant upgrade to Geraldton.
Existing iron ore and grains export businesses will also have to compete for space at the Port of Geraldton due to the plans to build major hydrogen and ammonia production industries in the area.