Near Exmouth on Western Australia’s northwest coast, plans are underway to construct Australia-first regenerative deep-water port, according to FleetMon.
It stated: “Gascoyne Gateway, an Australian firm has proposed plans for the project, and they aim to do more than simply protect what’s left of the environment, striving to employ environmental regenerative techniques in the area.
“By environmental regenerative techniques, we refer to improved marine supervision for larger ocean-going vessels; curtailing long-haul truck emissions and reducing shipping emissions. They also aim to construct a solar farm and battery storage to power the jetty, as well as providing desalinated water using renewable energy.
“The planned 900m jetty would be able to host all sorts of vessels transiting the Gulf. They include small cargo vessels, cruise ships, private yachts, and even naval ships.”
Michael Edwards, Managing Director of Gascoyne Gateway said the project was important on many levels.
He said, “There is currently little organization or oversight of the movement of ships and maritime activities in the Exmouth Gulf. It’s expected that much of the existing traffic within the gulf will use this facility, making it immediately viable and delivering a net environmental benefit as this traffic becomes better regulated.”
It added: “The Australian firm aims to privately fund the entire project. It is also set to create jobs in a multitude of industries like agriculture, renewable energy, water and logistics. Apart from that, the construction will create 400 jobs, with operations creating another 70 for the Gulf region. Right now, the project is in it’s developmental phase, with the firm resorting to community consultation. Three years is the estimated time frame that the project is estimated to take up for getting approval. With construction set to begin in mid 2023s, the port is set to begin operations by 2025 as per official plans.”