Mid West Ports Authority says Oakajee will be important for the region, ‘larger port’ needed

The boss of the Mid West Ports Authority says Oakajee will form an important part of the facility’s future and envisages the two ports will one day complement each other.

Long-talked about for two decades, Oakajee is now a proposed strategic industrial area touted as a clean energy hub that will use the region’s wind and solar.

Earlier this year, the project north of Geraldton marked its first milestone — the awarding of a contract to create the road to the proposed site.

MWPA chief executive Damian Tully said the area was part of the future for the region as the timeline for a major $350 million upgrade of the Geraldton facility, known as the Port Maximisation Project, becomes clearer.

“The port of Oakajee will be in the long-term future of the Mid West,” he said.

“I really see that Geraldton and Oakajee, the two ports, will be complementary to each other.

“We’ll see some things in Geraldton, being import and export, and we’ll see some things exported and imported from Oakajee.”

According to Mr Tully, work was being done behind the scenes to see what the minimum viable port would need to be to support the hydrogen sector.

He said a port larger than the one currently in Geraldton could be required in the future.

“The Oakajee SIA doesn’t necessarily mean that in the first instance that a port will be created, but we know that there are some big players obviously up there with BP and also Fortescue,” he said.

“I think that that will drive the need for a port in the first circumstance, but at the same time we’ve got to remember that there’s still a lot of mineral resources in the Mid West and further to the north that would really need to be exported via a larger port, such as Oakajee, rather than through Geraldton.”

Mid West Ports said environmental approvals meant the $350 million Geraldton Port Maximisation Project (PMaxP) had no confirmed timeline.

Among the biggest changes include converting the tugs and pilot boat harbour near the Eastern Breakwater into a berth capable of facilitating cruise ships, demolition of the current berth two which no longer meets modern demands, and an extension of the breakwater to help reduce downtime through surge mitigation.

However, Mr Tully said initial works for some of the projects were under way.

“We’ve got construction on the site of our berth five and berth six fuel lines at the moment,” he said.

“(We’re) looking to commence our truck and loader for berth four in the next couple of months, but the main stuff won’t start for another another year or so, once we get those environmental approvals back.”

It was expected the main projects will get under way in mid-2026.