Fremantle's iconic container port will be dismantled and moved 25 kilometres down the road to make way for a huge infill development, although the project's $4 billion price tag is now uncertain.
Key points:
- The WA government has unveiled elements of a new commercial shipping port
- It wants to close Fremantle port and shift shipping to Kwinana
- That would free up about 260 hectares of prime land in Fremantle
The WA government today unveiled elements of its preferred design for a new port at Kwinana that will move all commercial shipping out of North Fremantle.
But it conceded it does not know what the project will end up costing or have a timeline for when it will be complete.
The Westport project will include construction of a breakwater to protect ships in the harbour, something that will inevitably impact the environment of the Cockburn Sound, which is home to a seagrass forest and a spawning ground for pink snapper.
The model is one of two proposed by a government taskforce in 2020, with the rejected option retaining some shipping out of Fremantle.
The original cost of the project was estimated to be $4 billion in 2020, but Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said that figure was now out of date.
"We're revisiting all aspects of the budget," Ms Saffioti said.
"That budget was done before COVID, before the supply-chain issues, and also things like the breakwater are something that's new in the design."
Ms Saffioti said the selected model would have less of an environmental impact than other options considered.
"One of the reasons [for this model] … is that it's less impact on the [Cockburn Sound] in relation to the amount of dredging and also impact on seagrass," Ms Saffioti said.
Recfishwest chief executive Andrew Rowland said Cockburn Sound was an important nursery area for squid, snapper and herring.
He said the government should release the scientific advice it based its decision on.
"We still haven't seen the science that's been done to date to demonstrate the impacts, particularly of the dredging program," Dr Rowland said.
"That northern channel where you've got five kilometres,18-metres depth of dredging, will remove seagrass, will potentially smother seagrass and other near-shore habitats."
Fremantle port hurt former premier
Ms Saffioti said she would outline full costs and further details in July next year, but the government had already spent tens of millions of dollars acquiring land in Kwinana for the project.
She said she wants the new port to be government-owned but may seek private-sector financing for land-side infrastructure, specifically some of the berths.
The future of Fremantle port was a political albatross around the neck of the former Liberal government under Premier Colin Barnett.
Fremantle has operated as the city's main port for more than 100 years but in recent decades heavy trucks have clogged increasingly suburban roads.
The situation was compounded by the degradation and closure of sections of the regional freight rail network used to transport grain for export, known as Tier 3, which forced more trucks onto the roads.
The former Liberal government's plan to manage this by extending the Roe Highway to the port – known as the Roe 8 project or Perth Freight Link — was scrapped following a backlash over the destruction of wetlands.
The McGowan government cancelled the already-under construction project when it swept to power at the 2017 election and offered the Kwinana Port plans as a future solution.
The current Cook government predicts the state's imports and exports will grow from 800,000 containers per year currently to more than 3 million over the next 50 years and the existing Fremantle port won't cope.
New rail, freeway
The government's new proposed model will include the widening of Roe Highway and Kwinana Freeway.
It will also ultimately see the construction of a new freeway standard road between the port and an upgraded Tonkin Highway in Byford, along Anketell Road.
The government is also proposing to upgrade rail terminals at Kenwick, Forrestfield and Kewdale to improve freight transfer.
Ms Saffioti said a key element of the upgrades was increasing the amount of freight transported on rail.
"I think it went down to 11 per cent about 10 years ago, it was 15 per cent when we won government, now we've moved to 20 per cent," Ms Saffioti said.
"That equates to about 100,000 truck movements off Leach Highway each year."
The government has also set up a 13-member committee to plan the future of a large swathe of land in north Fremantle that will be freed up by the port's move.
Fremantle Port to be 'transformed'
According to the government, the existing Fremantle Port would transform into a "vibrant precinct" to cater for WA's growing population.
There was no visual concepts of what that area would look like in the future.
The committee has released three scenarios.
The first includes more public space and community facilities and medium-rise buildings, the second more high rises and the third mixed use including residential and commercial.
Project chair Jane Bennett says it's rare to have 10 kilometres of coastline available for development.
"There's very little that compares to the scale of this," Ms Bennett said.
"But it will be a game-changer for Fremantle, for Perth, but also that southern corridor … we've looked at the significance of this place as a destination for that growing community south of Perth."
Ms Bennett said the project will bring more residents into Fremantle.
"We're talking up to 55,000 residents, 50,000 jobs, (but) that will happen over time, not all immediately," she said.
"That really opens up Fremantle CBD to become something quite new and exciting but also drawing on the history and heritage that's already there, and I think that's important too, not to lose the grit that is Fremantle.
The committee said it will have a recommendation for government in late-2024.
Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge says it was hugely important for North Quay to be connected back to Fremantle.
"We don't want another city adjacent but not connected to Fremantle," she said.
"The type of development we'd like to see is development that gives still great access to public open space, to beaches, to waterfront, and also supplements our economy."