THE PORT OF ESPERANCE (MARCH 2015)

The Port of Esperance is really something. It dominates the southern end of the town seafront, but what is not immediately apparent is that this is the deepest port in the Southern Hemisphere. Here, in one of a number of photos I acknowledge as having come from the website of the Southern Ports Authority, we can see the port and its facilities, the town centre to the right, and, on the left of the shot, the crescents of sand which are the western Esperance beaches. Oh, and the expanse of water in the background is Pink Lake (which isn't pink at the moment!) The port facility, which sits entirely on reclaimed land, was built in the early 1960's.  Its initial development coincided with the release of the farmland on the Esperance sand plains and the boom in nickel mining which occurred at the same time and allowed for the export of both the grain and the nickel.  These days, iron ore is exported through the port in addition to the grain and nickel and whilst the port is primarily an export port it does allow for the off-loading of three important imports, fuel, sulphur and fertiliser.  The port tours are run each Saturday afternoon. We arrived a little before the appointed hour and took a quick wander around the area, and whilst nosing about the Port Authority building we made an interesting discovery.  You may recall that we had previously strolled through the Frank Bower adventure land park, and I commented that we did not know who this local luminary was.  Riddle solved. Apart from distinguished WW2 service as a pilot, the Ralph had served as the chairman of the Esperance Port Authority from 1969 until 1995. A bust of the redoubtable Ralph stands proudly at the front entrance to the Ports Authority building, and all was now clear. I also took the opportunity to photograph the two ships which were alongside on the day of our tour. That with the (unusual) blue and grey hull lying alongside the further wharf is the iron ore carrier 'China Steel Growth', whilst the traditional  red and black hull of the 'Africa Graeca' is tied up at the grain dock. And, despite appearances, these are ships of vastly different sizes, but I'll have a bit more to say about that later. The port is closed to the general public, and those who embark on the tour are transported through the facility on a mini-bus (from which we are actually dis-embarking) which comes complete with volunteer staff...the driver on our tour was a member of the local emergency services whilst the incredibly knowledgeable and personable guide was a member of the Esperance Apex Club (and we, suspect, the local chiropractor). The paltry $5.00 fee we each paid for the one and a half hour tour is shared by the service organisations who provide the volunteer drivers and guides...what a very good idea.  As we learnt, although the port has been exporting iron ore since 1995, the volume was initially small. The port was too shallow to handle the huge 'Cape' class ships which are predominately used for this trade. In 2001 a dredging programme fixed that problem. At the completion of the work, the grain and fuel dock was deepened to 14.5 metres to cater for 'Panamax' class ships, whilst the dredge clawed out a whopping hole 19.5 metres deep along the length of the ore loading wharf. Obviously all this effort would have been for nought if Esperance Bay itself did not have the same depth, which indeed it does.  In fact, the marked channel into and out of this port is remarkably short....the deep water lies very close to the shoreline.  Before we take a closer look at the port, some perspective may be useful. What do the name 'Cape' and 'Panamax' actually mean. Cape ships are huge, up to 200,000 tones dead weight. They are far too large to navigate the Panama Canal, and hence their passages around the world take them past either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. Panamax vessels, on the other hand, used in the grain trade, are much smaller. The largest of these weigh in at a mere 75,000 tonnes, but as we shall see, these are still very large lumps of floating steel. This (it is one of a few taken from the authority website) shows a Cape class ship being turned prior to docking at the ore berth. When we had first arrived in Esperance, I photographed the ship alongside the ore wharf at the time. This monster, the oddly named 'BulkJo Vance', left the port weighing in at a colossal 175,000 tonnes. The 'China Growth Steel' came in at 150,000 tonnes whilst the grain ship was a mere bub by comparison.....only 50,000 tonnes. Now that I've managed to impress you with some very large numbers, let's go on tour. The Port of Esperance is one of three managed by the Southern Ports Authority.  Not surprisingly the other two are Albany and Bunbury, but as I have noted, Esperance is by far and away the deepest and can handle ships which would go aground in the other two. We drove firstly past the grain terminal where the Africa Graeca was being loaded. And here I had another surprise....she is registered in the southern Cyprus town of Limassol, the location of the Australian UN Police HQ in 1971, the town in which I spend the first three months of my tour on the island. Wheat, barley, oats, lupins, peas and canola are all delivered to the port by road train and are off loaded into various silo cells. Given that even different grades of the same product must be kept separated, this is a process which demands close management. The grain loading gantries are fixed but there are sufficient of them to allow for the alternative loading through all the ship's hatches. A very close eye is kept on the loading levels in each hold to ensure that the weight of the load is evenly distributed. It is not uncommon to see one of these vessels lying somewhat lower in the water at the stern as loading progresses, but this is soon redressed by loading the forward holds. Too much imbalance can cause severe stress to the ship's hull. Our goodly guide here pointed out another fascinating apsect of the grain loading. At the end of each loading gantry is a rotating nozzle which sprays the grain around the outer edges of each hold. This prevents the formation of a pyramid of grain in the centre of the hold with the obvious problems this would create. Very natty, I thought. Just beyond the grain loading wharf is the dock which caters for incoming goods and the cruise ships with are visiting the port in increasing numbers, such as the Astor we saw earlier. More on the sulphur imports in particular a little later. As you would expect, vessels of the size which use Esperance are incapable of coming alongside unaided. You may recall mention of the MacKenzie family in an earlier missive, and the fact that they won the contract to provide tug services to the port.....well here they are, or two of them at least. As we drove along the docks, the Shoal Cape was out manoeuvring in the harbour. These are very slippery craft indeed. Unlike most tugs, these have no keel. The prop, driven by two huge Caterpillar diesels producing 6,000 horsepower each, is capable of being turned through 360 degrees.  As a result, this boat can turn on a sixpence....within its own length no less.  Vessels such as these are not happy at sea....any decent wave would capsize them, but in their present role and environment, they have few peers. And they do not come cheaply. A mere $6 million will see one at your marina berth! Mind you, these are a licence to print money. Wait for this....the charge for the services of each tug for each arrival or departure is $30,000. A minimum of two are required for each movement. So, for every ship which enters and leaves the Port of Esperance, add to the running costs a total tug fee of $120,000!  No wonder companies like to move very large volumes each time. Beyond the tug mooring area we drove until we were alongside the bulk of the iron ore carrier. Loading was in full swing....at the staggering rate of 4,500 tonnes per hour. Unlike the fixed grain loader, the single gantry of the ore loader is mounted on a railway along which it traverses the length of the receiving ship, adding ore to each hold in succession. With the weight of this material, even loading is critical. Loading is continuous. Despite the enormous loads they take, it was rare to see an ore carrier alongside for more than two days.  This is a good point at which to say a bit about the actual iron ore receival and loading process for the very good reason that it is done extremely well. It is recognised as world's best practice.  I can remember the flap which arose when the port expansion was mooted. With some good reason, based on the operations at other ports, the locals raised howls of protest about the probable effect of iron ore dust on the town. Given the close co-location of the port and the CBD, this seemed quite a reasonable concern. For any who knows the Whyalla (or 'Orange City' as it was widely called) area in SA, the horrid outcome of free floating ore dust on commercial and residential areas has been all too obvious.  To overcome this quite real potential problem, the company which mines the ore invested heavily in the development of the current facility infrastructure, to the satisfaction of all. So, how does all this now work?  The ore is mined at Koolyanobbing, quite some distance away. It is transported by rail, initially to Kalgoorlie along the East-West line and thence along the 400 kilometres south to Esperance on the standard gauge line which has been recently upgraded to allow for longer and heavier trains. The numbers are big. Each train now consists of up to 126 waggons, each of which carried 60 tonnes of ore. Eighteen trains per week make the delivery journey to Esperance.  I'll leave you to do the sums! Whilst we did not see any of these huge trains in action, other than during our port tour, we did frequently pass the Esperance depot from which they operated. It was quite close to the Pine Grove park on Harbour Road, but fortunately they were not contributory to the general road noise of the area.  But we did see a train unloading. Once at the port, for ease of unloading, the waggons are separated into what are called 'rakes', each of which is 60 waggons long.   These are manoeuvred around the dock to the enclosed receiving shed.  Here the ore is sprayed with water before each waggon is upended inside the shed and its contents deposited directly onto a conveyor belt. Air pressure is maintained within the shed to prevent the escape of any dust, and, improbable as this sounds, from what we saw not a speck is released to the atmosphere. If a ship is alongside at the time, the ore is moved directly to the loading gantry along a fully enclosed conveyor belt line. If not, alternative routes are used to move the ore to the massive (and I mean massive) storage sheds nearby.  These structures are the largest, freestanding in Australia and can hold up to a million tonnes of ore. Again air pressure is controlled in such a manner as to prevent any dust escape. When a bulk carrier is loading, ore from these stockpiles is moved onto the conveyor line by two mobile loaders, each with a bucket capacity of 16 tonnes. With loading proceeding at a rate of 4,500 tonnes per hour, the blokes driving these machines have to maintain a very rapid feed onto the conveyor belt.  Interestingly, all the port staff (120 of them) are employed directly by the Authority, unlike most others where the labour is contracted.  All are multi-skilled.  The chaps driving the ore loaders today might well be repairing electrical wiring tomorrow, and so on.  It is believed that during the current year, exports of iron ore from this port will reach the limit of its capacity licence....11.5 millions tonnes of the stuff. Mind you, this is child's play compared to the facilities at places like Port Headland, a port I am very much looking forward to visiting, just to marvel at the sheer size of the operation. But, as I have emphasised, the dust free operation here is unique. Having seen the layout, (and spent time in Whyalla) the concept of anything else does not bear thinking about. As a final word on the iron ore export facility, the loading gantry itself is in the 'massive' bracket. It's design is such that it cannot be operated in winds exceeding a certain speed (sorry, I've forgotten the figure) for fear it will be blown over. Despite the fact that the arm is a latticed structure, it acts like a thumping great sail in strong beam winds.  So when it is not in operation, it is lowered and secured to the wharf....a crouching monster just waiting to pounce on the next bulk carrier. The third major export from this port is nickel, but unlike both the grain and the ore, this does not go out in bulk but rather in large, tightly sealed containers known as 'kibbles'. These have slots in the sides of them which allow them to be picked up and emptied by forklift.  The nickel is mined at both Kambalda (near Kalgoorlie) and at the recently re-opened mine at the relatively close Ravensthorpe and is shipped overseas in the form of a granular concentrate which is loaded onto containers carriers from No 2 berth. The concentrate is considered to be dangerous in that it is potentially carcinogenic, hence the need for containment. Apart from that, this is a high value product.  Any spillage would be costly indeed. The consignments of nickel are usually relatively small compared to the iron ore, in the order of 20,000 tonnes at any one time, but for all that more nickel is exported from the Port of Esperance than any other in the Southern Hemisphere. Berth no 2 is also used by ships delivering goods, primarily fuel, fertiliser and sulphur. And herein lies a tale or two.  Fuel is a point of real contention in Esperance, and the subject of a system which leaves the locals scratching their heads. It is pumped from the port to the oil depot in the town some two kilometres away. So far, so good. From here, road tankers transport the millions of litres required to keep Kalgoorlie going to the goldfields. Still so far, so good. But guess where all the fuel supplies for Esperance itself come from???....by road from Perth!  There is obviously some commercial reason for this, but it just seems so odd that none of what is off loaded in the town is actually used there. The need for, and broad local use of, fertiliser to maintain the productivity of the sand plains farming speaks for itself, but we were more than puzzled by the importance of the sulphur imports.....and the bulk of it. This rather inadequate shot of the mass of sulphur being stored in the huge shed on the dock, taken through the front of the bus from which we were not allowed to disembark, does not do real justice to the amount which is here. It was mind boggling. Why so much sulphur?  It is all to do with the nickel.  The transformation of the mined nickel ore into the nickel concentrate which is exported involves a process which demands the use of large quantities of sulphuric acid.  Question answered.  The sulphur is stockpiled here at the port and trucked to the mining plants as needed, not that storing this amount of sulphur is a mere doddle....just build a shed and plonk it in does not work for this element. Because of sulphur's highly corrosive nature, this shed is one in which there is no exposed metal....the vast majority of the structure is made from wood and that which is not, is covered with a protective coating.  Nothing is as simple as it seems here at the Port of Esperance. And there is a delightfully quirky ending to the sulphur story.  The engineer responsible for the construction of this highly specialised shed was proudly showing it off to his youngish daughter just prior to the official opening.  She noted that there were a number of protective bollards dotted about the building, and enquired as to why they were all painted bright yellow. "That's the standard colour to ensure they will stand out", was Dad's apparent reply. And then the penny dropped!   According to our guide the engineer's daughter's favourite colour was used to repaint the bollards....bright pink!  Out of the mouths of babes......!!   As our tour came to an end, we drove past this odd looking facility located on the reclaimed land of the port. This is the Esperance power station, six gas turbine generators which produce the majority the town's electricity.  The Esperance wind farm provides 20-25% and this ugly looking but highly efficient pant does the rest. And the gas supply? Nothing local....it comes from the North-West shelf fields piped to Esperance from Kambalda!

And so there you have it, the relatively small, but highly efficient Port of Esperance through which over 200 ship pass annually and from which over 11 million tonnes of export product is shipped each year. Expansion plans are currently on the table, but I strongly suspect the plummeting price of iron ore will see those shelved for the foreseeable future.  In any event, the land reclamation programme has allowed sufficient room for an increase in the size of the port with relative ease.  Whether or not that occurs will obviously be a matter of commercial imperative.