“Delaying action on Westport is a risk to our economy. Without Westport, the cost of everything will go up, and we will be reliant on road and rail from the eastern states – hurting households, businesses and the economy.
“A world-class container port in Kwinana is critical for our State to remain a global economic and industrial powerhouse, and for the future prosperity of all Western Australians.”
WA Premier, the Hon. Roger Cook, 11 November 2024.

It’s clear that Cook will follow through with McGowan’s plan for a new outer harbour.
On November 11 last year the WA Premier all but confirmed the project will go ahead.
The only question is how much the Feds will stump up and how much influence will the unions have on the final design.
Globally there are 71 container terminals that are fully or partially automated, ports such as Singapore’s next generation Tuas Port which, when fully complete in 2040, will have the ability to move 65 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs, 20 foot cargo containers) without a union worker on the dock.
Fremantle, on the other hand, moved around 1 million TEUs last year with the slow unionised help of the 300 members of the Maritime Union.
On average, Fremantle moves between 25 – 32 containers an hour, while Singapore averaged 66 moves back in 2014 in their pre-automated days.
In 2023, at one of their automated berths, one vessel recorded 50,000 container movements within a 15-hour period equating to a berth productivity rate of 333 moves per hour.
Bring on the new port at the outer harbour but leave the unionised wharf workers behind.