Project record

Westport Kwinana container port and marine infrastructure

Official artist impression of Westport's proposed Kwinana container-port design showing the terminal platform, quays, shipping basin and offshore breakwater

Westport, Government of Western Australia (artist impression)

Western Australia's Westport program is defining a new Kwinana container terminal with a shipping channel, turning area, breakwater, quay line, dredging-linked reclamation, a redeveloped bulk terminal, and integrated road and rail connections.

Project signal

Design in Australia

Current status Marine reference design, investigations, environmental-review preparation, and construction planning active; Westport Bill remains before Parliament Source confidence Confirmed

Location

Australia / Asia Pacific

Segment

Port infrastructure

Status

Marine reference design, investigations, environmental-review preparation, and construction planning active; Westport Bill remains before Parliament / Confirmed

Last checked

16 July 2026

Coverage

Related sectors

Port infrastructure is the primary work classification. Related sectors connect this record to adjacent marine delivery and market coverage.

Subject index

Related subjects

These subject pages bring together related projects, technical articles, reports, and evidence methods.

Project anatomy

Contract scope and delivery roles

Client / authority
Westport, Government of Western Australia
Delivery parties
Worley Arcadis Joint Venture, Moffatt & Nichol
Contract route
Westport appointed the Worley Arcadis Joint Venture as Marine and Port Infrastructure Technical Advisor in January 2026. Moffatt & Nichol is a specialist subconsultant for fleet forecasting, port and terminal planning, design optimisation, proxy-operator input, and digital-twin simulation. The Professional Services Panel EOI covered 14 disciplines including dredging, breakwater design, marine structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, metocean studies, and marine environmental science; it is a prequalified advisory-services route, not a construction framework. A separate seagrass-restoration RFP closed on 29 May 2026 for delivery-ready summer-2026 trials and emerging methods for summer 2027. A March 2026 Terminal Operator Consultation Group provides design feedback and explicitly sits outside any terminal-operator procurement. The Westport Bill proposes a dedicated delivery authority, but future capital dredging, marine construction, and operator procurement remain unconfirmed.
Execution window
The technical advisor is supporting definition, reference-design verification, optimisation, approvals, construction planning, and cost development through a multi-year design phase. Westport describes the full port and supply-chain development as an approximately decade-long programme, with earlier works expected around the Kwinana Bulk Terminal and road interfaces. As reviewed on 16 July 2026, the Westport Bill remains at Legislative Assembly second reading and has not become law; the Bill does not itself guarantee construction, funding, or a final investment decision.
Works package
A new container port in the Kwinana Industrial Area comprising a shipping channel and turning area, breakwater, quay line and berths, a reclaimed terminal platform using suitable dredged material, a redeveloped Kwinana Bulk Terminal, port-operating systems, and integrated road and rail freight connections.
Marine interfaces
Channel and berth dredging, breakwater and quay design, dredged-material suitability and reclamation, seabed and sub-seabed investigations, Cockburn Sound environmental approvals, Kwinana Bulk Terminal marine structures, terminal operating assumptions, and landside access must converge before major marine construction can proceed.
Commercial evidence boundary
The integrated technical-advisory role is committed, a professional-services panel has created an advisory route, and seagrass-restoration trials have reached RFP stage. Those are current pre-construction opportunities; the major marine construction market remains upstream. The proposed temporary authority would centralise delivery and later transfer completed port and maritime assets to Fremantle Ports, but the Bill is still before Parliament and expressly does not guarantee construction or funding. Future capital opportunity is likely to divide across preliminary marine civil works, dredging and material management, breakwater construction, quay and berth structures, reclamation, Kwinana Bulk Terminal works, environmental monitoring and restoration, navigation simulation, terminal systems, and specialist construction support once approvals, investment, governance, and packaging mature.

Project timeline

Material developments

Dated events that changed scope, counterparties, delivery, commissioning or operating status.

Open this project in the Change Log

Westport opened a seagrass-restoration trial RFP

The request sought multiple providers for delivery-ready summer-2026 trials and emerging methods for summer 2027. It creates a bounded ecological-restoration procurement signal, not evidence of provider award, trial mobilisation, successful restoration, environmental approval, or capital marine works.

Source

Government introduced legislation for a dedicated Westport Authority

The Bill defines a proposed delivery body and later transfer of completed port and maritime assets. Introduction is a governance change, not passage into law, funding approval, final investment decision, environmental approval, or construction authorization.

Source

Westport appointed its marine and port technical advisor

The Worley Arcadis Joint Venture award advances reference design, approvals, construction planning, cost development, and advice for the channel, breakwater, quay, dredging, and terminal operations. It is a professional-services award, not a capital-dredging or marine-construction contract.

Source

Westport opened its Professional Services Panel EOI

The EOI created a prequalification route across 14 disciplines including dredging, breakwater design, marine structures, geotechnical, metocean, and marine environmental science. It does not prove panel appointment, task order, construction tender, or physical delivery.

Source

Marine science findings changed the proposed port layout

Westport attributed a roughly one-kilometre southward footprint shift, breakwater repositioning, and use of historic dredging zones to the research programme. The update establishes design evolution, not an approved final reference design or accepted environmental outcome.

Source

Owner documented active marine geotechnical investigations

Two jack-up barges were collecting geotechnical cores and in-situ seabed data over a 12-month campaign, with cone-penetration testing planned for late July to early August. Investigation activity does not establish a complete ground model, design acceptance, dredging quantity, or construction mobilisation.

Source

EPA approved Westport's Environmental Scoping Document

Approval fixed the required scope for the later Environmental Review Document and Public Environmental Review. It is not approval for the port to proceed, completion of the Environmental Review Document, or closure of State and Commonwealth assessment.

Source

Evidence gap

What remains unverified

Outstanding evidence

  • Professional Services Panel appointments and bounded advisory scopes
  • Seagrass-restoration trial awards, methods, sites, and summer-2026 mobilisation
  • Reference-design verification and preferred marine layout
  • State and Federal environmental assessment decisions
  • Westport Bill progress, delivery-authority establishment, funding, and final investment decision
  • Channel, turning area, berth, and reclamation dredging quantities
  • Breakwater, quay, and Kwinana Bulk Terminal construction packaging
  • Terminal operator consultation, future procurement, navigation simulation, capacity, and phasing assumptions

Related records 3

Reporting status

Design, confirmed confidence

Last checked 16 July 2026 across 14 cited sources. The dated timeline above carries the project events.

Last checked 16 July 2026 Cited sources 14

Sources and related records

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Source collections

Project sources 14