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The Port of Albany is located within
Princess Royal Harbour Princess Royal Harbour is a part of King George Sound on the South coast of Western Australia, and harbour to Albany. On its northern shore is the Port of Albany. The name ''Princess Royal'' also appears in Albany in Princess Royal Fortress a ...
in
King George Sound King George Sound ( nys , Menang Koort) is a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Named King George the Third's Sound in 1791, it was referred to as King George's Sound from 1805. The name "King George Sound" gradually came into use ...
on the
south coast of Western Australia The south coast of Western Australia comprises the Western Australian coastline from Cape Leeuwin to Eucla. This is a distance of approximately , fronting the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean. Components The Bureau of Meteorology ...
, in the Great Southern region.


Location

The port is located on the northern shore of Princess Royal Harbour, a natural harbour that is part of King George Sound. The city of Albany is adjacent to the port facilities. A dredged shipping channel that has a width of and a minimum depth of provides an approach to the port from King George Sound. The channel to the port has Point Possession to the south and Point King, at the base of Mount Adelaide, to the north. The body of water between these two points is called Atatürk Entrance. The Port of Albany takes up a land area of , a mixture of crown and freehold land that was managed by the Albany Authority and managed by the Southern Ports Authority since 2014.


Facilities

Facilities at the port consist of 4 berths that are currently operational with a site that is ready to develop into a fifth berth when it is required. The port is able to accommodate
panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...
size vessels with a maximum laden draft of 11.7m, a deepening of the channel is being proposed to allow
capesize Capesize ships are the largest dry cargo ships with ball mark dimension: about 170,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) capacity, 290 m long, 45 m beam (wide), 18m draught (under water depth). They are too large to transit the Suez Canal ( Suezmax limi ...
vessels entry to the port. The port has two tugs with 45 tonne bollard pull capacity provided by Svitzer, a 12 tonne mobile crane, three forklift trucks (two of 2 tonne, and one of 5 tonne capacity) and a large cold storage facility with volume of 98000 m3 at the rear of Berth No. 1. The port has direct rail access from the Mirambeena Industrial Estate from, Albany that allows woodchips from the Albany Plantation Export Company's woodchip mill to be transported directly to the port by rail instead of road. The rail line is narrow gauge and continues in a northerly direction to
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. The port is able to service both Cargo and Naval vessels with 7 Naval vessels docking at the Port in 2008.


History

Albany Port was the first port in Western Australia and was settled in 1826. Albany was Western Australia's only deep-water port for 70 years until the Fremantle Inner Harbour was opened in 1897. The first settlers arrived in Albany in December 1826 when
Major Edmund Lockyer Edmund Lockyer, (21 January 1784 – 10 June 1860) was a British soldier and explorer of Australia. Born in Plymouth, Devon, Lockyer was the son of Thomas Lockyer, a sailmaker, and his wife Ann. Lockyer began his army career as an ensign in ...
arrived at the harbour aboard the brig Amity. The port started from humble beginnings when a finger
jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...
was built between 1862 and 1864 in Princess Royal Harbour. The construction was extended in 1874 and fitted with a T-shaped head and gas lighting. Dredging and land reclamation around the port area commenced in 1893, with a further five dredging operations taking place between 1901 and 1979. Albany was an important arrival point for migrants and settlers in Western Australia with over 40,000 people arriving between 1839–1925. The
Point King Lighthouse Point King Lighthouse was a lighthouse located on the northern entrance to Princess Royal Harbour in Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The lighthouse was the first navigational light for the Port of Albany and the seco ...
, built in 1898, was the first navigational light for the Port of Albany and the second lighthouse to be built on the Western Australian coastline. The
Great White Fleet The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the group of United States Navy battleships which completed a journey around the globe from December 16, 1907 to February 22, 1909 by order of President Theodore Roosevelt. Its mission was t ...
visited Albany on 11 September 1908 and stayed for one week to take coal aboard as part of the fleet's circumnavigation of the world. The fleet arrived from
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and the next port of call was
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
. In 2004 2,685,000
tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000  kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s of cargo passed through the port and in 2005 2,990,000 tonnes of cargo was achieved. During this time woodchip exports increased by 105%. A huge drug seizure was recorded in the port area in 2004 when the
Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...
and the
Australian Customs Service The Australian Customs Service was an Government of Australia, Australian Government agency responsible for Australian border protection, duties and taxes between 1985 and 2009. The Service was first under the portfolio of the Department of Indus ...
recovered of powder
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
, worth over $45 million, was recovered from a local beach after being buried in the dunes. The drugs were imported on a bulk grain carrier ''Marcos Dias'' having come from South America via South East Asia, three men were arrested as a result. In 2005 handler and exporter CBH, proceeded with a $130 million upgrade of their grain handling and loading facilities at the port. The Albany Port Authority won the national ''
Lloyd's Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...
'' Port of the Year award in 2006 for its development of new technology used to restore degrade load-bearing concrete piles without disrupting cargo handling activities. The port was visited by the
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
passenger liner in February 2008 as part of its final world trip. Albany was the only regional port that was visited during the Australian leg of the voyage. The largest vessel ever handled by the port was the Bulk carrier 71,749 dwt ''Maritime Grace'' which was partly loaded at the port. The Albany Port Authority recorded a record profit of A$7.1 million in 2014 after exporting a record 1.4 million tonnes of woodchips. The Albany Port Authority, which had run the port since 1950 was closed down in 2014 when it was merged with the Bunbury and Esperance Port Authorities creating the Southern Port Authority.


War legacy

During dredging in 2000 to expand the harbour, a large amount of unexploded munitions was found at the bottom of the harbour so that Worksafe demanded that dredging cease until the harbour was made safe again. It was consequently found that the ordnance had been spilt during loading of excess munitions to be disposed of at sea in 1947 and 1948 by the Australian Army and Navy. The Albany Port Authority took the Commonwealth government to court to pay for the clean-up of the munitions. The Commonwealth lost the case and were ordered to pay $5.25 million for past and future clean-up costs and an additional $1 million for legal costs. Some of the ammunition that has been found included a 250-pound aerial bomb, 18 pound artillery shells and rifle ammunitions.


Trade

The port handles a variety of goods that are imported and exported through the harbour. Products that are commonly imported through Albany port are manufactured
fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
s, fertilizer raw materials,
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
fuels and fish. Products most commonly exported through the port are
woodchips Woodchips are small- to medium-sized pieces of wood formed by cutting or chipping larger pieces of wood such as trees, branches, logging residues, stumps, roots, and wood waste. Woodchips may be used as a biomass solid fuel and are raw material ...
,
wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
,
silica sand Sand casting, also known as sand molded casting, is a metal casting process characterized by using sand as the mold material. The term "sand casting" can also refer to an object produced via the sand casting process. Sand castings are produced i ...
,
barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
,
canola Close-up of canola blooms Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, i ...
and
oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...
s. Woodchips were first exported from Albany Port in 2002 and by 2007 made up in excess of 40% of the total tonnage exported. The Port contributes significantly to the economy of the Great Southern Region estimated to be in excess of $160 million per annum.


See also

*
List of ports in Australia This is a list of ports in Australia. It includes all gazetted ports, harbours, havens, roadsteads and marinas. This list is complete with respect to the 1996 Gazetteer of Australia.Gazetteer of Australia (1996). Belconnen, ACT: Australian Surv ...


References


External links


Albany Port Authority Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Of Albany Albany, Western Australia Albany Statutory agencies of Western Australia