P RTALWe hope you enjoy this edition of Portal, your insight into the latest news and changes at the Bunbury Port.

These are exciting times for us as we grow our capabilities and facilities to better serve the varied industries and community of the South West.

Keeping the Bunbury community and our stakeholders informed and

up-to-date as we transform is a high priority. So we’re pleased to welcome Mills Wilson on board as our new communications partner to help us ensure we keep in touch with updates and news throughout 2014 and beyond.

If there’s anything you’d like to know about the Port or if you have any questions, please feel free to email us at records@byport.com.au.

A comprehensive dolphin count by Murdoch University’s South West Marine Research Program has been welcomed by longstanding industry partner Bunbury Port Authority.

Bunbury Port Authority CEO, Kevin Schellack, said the research would help with future port planning and refl ected the importance of industry working with researchers to achieve strong environmental outcomes.

“This research enables us to make decisions informed by real information on dolphin populations and the way they vary depending on the season,” he said. “We’ve been pleased to be able to support Murdoch University researchers for more than seven years now with contributions in the order of $120,000.

“With the latest phase of the dolphin research now complete, we will be talking to Murdoch University about the best opportunities to expand our understanding of the environment in which we live and work,” the CEO added.

A team of researchers looked at 120 square kilometres of Bunbury coastal waters, and saw about 65 dolphins in winter and about 140 in summer.

Port welcomes dolphin count

Keeping you informed in 2014

A COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER FROM THE BUNBURY PORT AUTHORITY

BPA PORTAL IS PUBLISHED BY THE BUNBURY PORT AUTHORITY • TELEPHONE (08) 9729 6500 • WEBSITE: www.byport.com.au

Bunbury Port is continuing to grow and thrive, with exciting expansion plans to maximise business opportunities while maintaining the health of our local environment.

In July 2014 the new amalgamated Southern Ports Authority will be established with responsibility for Bunbury, Albany and Esperance ports.

As both Chairman of the Bunbury Port Authority and Chairman Elect of the new entity, I’m working with Bunbury, Esperance and Albany to ensure the amalgamation is as smooth as possible and that Bunbury Port continues to excel.

In the meantime, the Board has also been focusing on Bunbury-specifi c priorities, for both trade and infrastructure.

Our current priority infrastructure project is the planned realignment of the Preston River, which will enable the Port’s future growth. We plan to award the tender for a feasibility study within the next six weeks. Environmental Consultants GHD are also on schedule in their work which will ensure the highest environmental standards are upheld throughout the project.

The Port is also working with Bunge to get their bulk grain export facility operating on time – and we hope to have two new major Port Users on board within the next six months – Lanco Resources Australia and Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers.

I’d like to thank the Port Users, who have engaged with us so constructively in restructuring

the single Port User Committee into two committees: the new Port Users Committee will deal with wider port development matters, while the Port Users Forum will focus on more operational matters.

BPA CEO, Kevin Schellack and the entire team are to be

congratulated for achieving and exceeding their business goals while also working to high safety and environmental standards. I also acknowledge the Board’s dedicated service to the Bunbury Port Authority.

Finally, I’d like to thank all those involved in the recently formed working group which aims to make the amalgamation into the new Southern Ports Authority successful.

BPA Board ChairmanNeema Premji

From the Chair

Dolphin tosses octopus prey (Photo: Kate Sprogis, Murdoch University)

Bunge’s new $30 million-plus bulk grain export facilities at Bunbury Port are set to be trialled in April 2014.

The trials will clear the way for the fi rst shipments of Western Australia’s recent bumper harvest from this modern facility at Bunbury to start mid-year.

The bulk grain facilities promise to boost economic and employment opportunities, both directly and indirectly, through support and service businesses.

According to Bunge, the move will also increase choice for farmers, providing an alternate export avenue, and creating additional value for their products and businesses.

New silos which form part of the bulk grain facility can hold up to 50,000 tonnes of grain – or as much wheat as would fi ll 25 Olympic swimming pools.

New silos to feed grain exports

Grain exports from the new facility are due to start mid-year

The initiative strives to assess the long-term viability of Bunbury’s dolphin population.

The leader of the Murdoch University Cetacean Research Unit, Associate Professor Lars Bejder, said the program provided important information for assessing the potential impact of human activity on dolphins, helping industry plan marine activities.

Initially founded on a partnership between the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre and Murdoch University, the South West Marine Research Program includes partners from industry, government, research and the community. The initiative strives to assess the long-term viability of Bunbury’s dolphin population.

The Program has four main areas of research: dolphin population monitoring, prey dynamics, dolphin genetics and dolphin health research via veterinarian and pathological investigations.

Bunbury Port’s Berth 3 – previously only used to load woodchips – will initially see up to 500,000 tonnes of local grain exported every year to overseas markets, mainly to Asia.

BPA PORTAL IS PUBLISHED BY THE BUNBURY PORT AUTHORITY • TELEPHONE (08) 9729 6500 • WEBSITE: www.byport.com.au

A belated “Happy New Year” to all our customers, partners, friends and community!

This year, I’m pleased to report that our summer dredging program has already been successfully completed.

While the dredging is critically important to maintain the depth of shipping channel, enabling safe access to Bunbury Port and its berths, the timing was shifted in consideration of the end of the winter storms, families enjoying school holidays on the waterfront and the seasonal crab migration which occurs in the later summer period.

Despite signifi cant challenges – including some poor weather and an unprecedented quantity of seaweed – the River Bee and her crew satisfactorily completed the three-week project before Christmas, bringing the Port very close to the optimal current operational depth.

On land, we’re working to avoid the reverse problem, with a project to mitigate potential erosion in the eastern part of Koombana Bay by building a seawall in partnership

with Bunbury City Council. A draft design for the joint project has been completed and we plan to have the seawall in place in time to provide protection from winter weather.

On the commercial front, we’re optimistic that Lanco Resources Australia will be able to start exporting up to 1.25 million tonnes of coal a year from our Port on an

interim basis later this year. Longer term, the planned development of Berth 14A will enable the export of 12 million tonnes of coal annually.

We are also hopeful that the Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers project will achieve fi nancial close prior to the end of the 2014 fi nancial year, allowing it

to move forward and export up to 2 million tonnes of urea a year from the Port.

It’s an exciting year ahead – and I look forward to bringing you more news in the weeks and months to come. I hope everyone has a very happy and successful 2014.

Kevin SchellackBPA CEO

From the CEO

The Port Pirates, a team of 19 Bunbury Port Authority staff and their families, raised a fi nal tally of more than $7,350 for cancer research in the most recent Relay for Life.

Congratulations to everyone involved in creating a colourful and thoroughly worthwhile event.

The Forestal Diamante prepares to load

was loaded with 40,000 tonnes – or more than 120,000 cubic metres – of woodchips destined for China, where it will be made into high quality paper.

The Chief Operating Offi cer of WA Plantation Resources, Ian Telfer, said the ship was about 20 per cent larger than ones previously used.

“With the cost of fuel and moving products, the more you can load on one voyage, the more cost effective it is. Increasingly, we’ll be seeing more ships of this size in Bunbury Port,” he said.

A new world-class mobile harbour crane is improving capacity and fl exibility at Bunbury Port – while reducing dust emissions.

Stevedore Qube’s Liebherr crane removes the Port’s reliance on ships’ cranes, which have lower capacity and speed.

Bunbury Port Authority’s Manager Projects and Engineering, Kevan Wheeler, said the introduction of the Liebherr crane had already increased loading capacity at Berth 5 by almost 20 per cent since it went into operation in October 2013.

The new crane, which can be utilised for import and export commodities, loads predominantly mineral cargoes via a Rotabox system, which minimises dust. The cargo comes from mine sites in containers which remain sealed until they are lifted inside the ship’s hold at which time the lid is opened via remote control and the contents tipped out.

“This technology offers a cost effective solution for customers to get their product to market without the need to invest in expensive sheds,” Kevan said.

New crane boosts productivity

Sealed containers minimise dust

“Removing the reliance on ships’ cranes also means the port is able to increase its trade through more capacity and productivity.”

If you’ve always wondered what goes on behind the scenes at Bunbury Port, watch this space! We’re planning to hold a public open day later this year where you can learn more about our thriving Port and the trades which help power the local and state economy. We’ll give you more details closer to the time.

Bunbury Port Authority will soon be awarding the contract for the engineering design for the planned realignment of the Preston River – along with the future development of new parklands, walking and cycling paths, bridges and public jetties.

This project is a key part of the planning for future Port expansion and has a keen focus on the environment.

Detailed environmental studies related to Port expansion are already underway as part of the Strategic Public Environmental Review (SPER) of the Inner Harbour Structure Plan. The engineering design work for the river realignment will be integrated into the SPER to ensure that the realigned river meets all required environmental standards.

GHD’s Principal Environmental Consultant, Dr Fionnuala Hannon, said

the studies were aimed at understanding the parts of the land, air and water environment which could potentially be impacted by Port expansion.

“By learning more about the marine and land-based wildlife, marine and groundwater quality, air quality, noise and so on, we can develop a good baseline understanding of the area as it is today and use that information to develop strategies to minimise any potential future environmental impacts,” she said.

The planned expansion of the Port includes the development of up to eight new berths, which would increase the capacity of the port to approximately 50 million tonnes per annum over time.

Opportunities for stakeholder and community comment on both environmental and design aspects of the inner harbour expansion will be well-publicised.

Environment studies underwayThe Preston River will feature new public spaces (Artist impression: UDC, 2008)

Bunbury’s biggest woodchip shipBunbury Port recently received its largest ever visiting woodchip ship – the Forestal Diamante, which is almost 230 metres long or the equivalent of almost 10 tennis courts laid end-to-end.

The vessel was in town to load pine woodchips for WA Plantation Resources, which exports about one million tonnes of woodchips a year and manages thousands of hectares of sustainable plantations “from seed to sail”.

Over the course of three days, the ship

COMING UP