Geraldton Port importing more wind farm turbines, with latest logistical challenge under way

It’s a sight people in Geraldton have been seeing more of in recent times — massive wind turbines being unloaded at the port, and it’s set to become more prevalent.

A mammoth logistical operation kicked off at Geraldton Port last week after a shipment of seven wind turbines started to be unloaded, eventually destined for a gold mine near Kalgoorlie.

The cargo, weighing up to 2000 tonnes and including 80m long turbine blades weighing more than 24 tonnes each, is being temporarily stored at the port to be then transported by road over two months, starting early September.

The turbines, manufactured by Goldwind and shipped from China to Geraldton, will be taken to Gold Fields’ St Ives mine, 80km south of Kalgoorlie.

The huge components will be transported in waves and people along the transport routes will be able to seem them passing by.

Before the final components were unloaded, the ship was sent back out to anchor due to inclement weather. Then the ship was diverted to Kwinana after snails were discovered.

Mid West Ports Authority chief executive Damian Tully said the snails were found in the final stages of unloading and because Geraldton was not a recognised first point of entry port, the vessel had to proceed to Kwinana where there was a biosecurity treatment area.

However, the majority of the cargo has already been unloaded in Geraldton.

Once the St Ives’ renewable energy project is up and running, it will be one of biggest ventures of its kind to be commissioned at a WA mine site.

Mr Tully said Geraldton Port had been handling more wind farm cargo in recent years and expected it to continue to rise with the ongoing port maximisation project. It includes road upgrades and a new berth to be able to handle the importation of more of these materials, and bigger ones.

Previously, the port was handling wind turbine blades about 68m in length. Now it’s about 80m and with upgrades that could expand to blades of 91m and even 109m in the future.

Mr Tully said unloading this cargo was an “intricate” process.

“These aren’t just standard items that get pulled off the ship,” he said.

“I call it crane ballet. Sometimes you might need to use two shipboard cranes to try to manoeuvre these blades . . . it takes specialists to be able to do it.

“We’re excited to be able to facilitate this trade and we are demonstrating that we are able to do it and it does add a bit of diversity to what we see comes through Geraldton and the Mid West.

“We’re more than happy to help facilitate the energy transformation for the State.”

Mr Tully said there were no shortage of inquiries about wind farm shipments “over the next couple of years”.

“There’s only a certain number of places where these can be brought into the State for essentially the South West and Mid West. You’re looking at Bunbury, Perth and also in Geraldton,” he said.

“What we’re seeing is that as there’s more and more pressure put on the use of Henderson down at Kwinana, that we’re probably seeing a little bit more demand through us.

“Importantly, we’ve been able to demonstrate we can do this successfully through Geraldton.”

Mr Tully said the road transportation part of this operation should not have a major impact on the general travelling public.

“You see a lot of these moves happen early in the morning, they don’t try to move too many parts at once,” he said.

“This has been been happening now for the last couple of years, fairly successfully.”