A community newsletter from the Kimberley Ports AuthorityFEBRUARY 2017

WelcomeSeagrass monitoring support continues

Seagrass monitoring volunteers on Roebuck Bay mudflats during the latest survey in December. Photo courtesy Environs Kimberley

partnership with the Department of Parks and Wildlife and Nyamba Buru Yawuru. Principal funding comes from KPA and Coastwest. In 2016, additional funding was sourced from the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal, Norman Wettenhall Foundation and Shire of Broome.

Inhabitants of the bay that are dependent on the health of its seagrass include dugongs, turtles and many juvenile fish species, as well as crustaceans and other small fry.

“Seagrass meadows are important coastal health indicators and collecting data provides an early warning system of coastal environment changes which is important information for a range of stakeholders, including the Port,” said HSE Manager Veronica Mair.

Seagrasses are under threat globally, however, Roebuck Bay seems to be doing better than most places. As Environs Kimberley reported on its Facebook page: “The seagrass is in a great condition at the moment”.

Happy New Year from the KPA Board, management and all of our employees.

We have made a productive and positive start to the year and the challenge will be maintaining flexibility in all facets of our operations to meet the expected trade demand fluctuations over the coming year.

Our key achievements over the past few months, and looking forward to the coming quarter, include:

• Finalising our strategic planning documents for the next five years and the Port Master Plan executive summary is scheduled for release shortly. This document will assist KPA and other bodies, such as Landcorp, Main Roads WA and the Shire of Broome, better understand and plan for land and infrastructure development into the future.

• Advancing safety through our safety culture program throughout the Port of Broome, which includes training on the updated policies, procedures and safety commitments. Our HSE and Operations teams recently achieved an exceptional result in planning and safely unloading casing from the BBC Asia. In Japan, two fatalities and a serious injury had been recorded when casing was unloaded from the vessel. So, the Port of Broome initiated several safety reviews with Sumitomo, the cargo suppliers, before the casing discharge took place. Through the good work of all parties involved, the discharge was completed without incident and Sumitomo Australia recognised KPA’s “highest professional standard”.

• Promoting tourism and the Port of Broome for cruise shipping through a gangway beautification project, as well as further investigation to be undertaken into the most appropriate solution for Broome to support future cruise ship visits.

• Upgrading the Port of Broome, including entry landscaping works to soften the industrial look of the area and make use of treated waste water. While the public walkway remains closed, work has begun to fully refurbish the walkway. This work will be completed in sections, allowing it to reopen incrementally over 2017 and 2018.

Laurie ShervingtonChair, Kimberley Ports Authority

KPA’s financial support for the Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Project will continue in 2017.

The community-led seagrass monitoring program provides an ongoing health check and early warning system to protect Roebuck Bay’s benthic mudflats, which are among the richest in the world and have been declared a wetland of international significance.

A large group of volunteers and indigenous rangers waded into the famous bay’s mudflats at low tide in December to gather data on seagrass meadows and their condition. The readings were then entered into the Seagrass-Watch international database.

The Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Project volunteers take readings on the mudflats at three different sites – Town Beach, Demco and the Port slipway – four times a year. Data collected includes sediment type, seagrass coverage and descriptions of features such as microfauna, species composition and canopy heights.

The project began in 2006 and is co-managed by Environs Kimberley in

There’s wet – then there’s record-breaking wet! And in December, a 77-year-old record fell as Broome was inundated with rain.

On 23 December 2016, some 225.6mm of rain fell on Broome – making it the wettest 24 hours in the town since 1997 and the third wettest day on record. The daily average rainfall in December is usually only 62.3mm.

A tropical low pressure system moved over the Kimberley and combined with Tropical Cyclone Yvette to create ideal conditions for an immense downpour.

The deluge brought the total rainfall for December to more than 407mm – easily topping the previous record set in December 1970 when 278.8mm fell. In fact, it was the wettest December since Broome records began 77 years ago!

The monsoonal flow resulted in minor flooding and road closures around the town.

A number of KPA employees needed 4WDs to navigate the flooded road conditions along Port Drive.

Funding festive funChinatown was a blaze of festive frivolity in December, with KPA’s sponsorship of the event contributing to the merriment!

KPA was delighted to sponsor the 2016 Broome Chamber of Commerce and Industry Christmas party by donating $500 toward the festivities.

Ahoy there Captain! Lindsay Copeman is loving his new role as Port of Broome’s Harbourmaster and Operations Manager. He’s also keen to become involved in community activities as soon as he has some spare time.

Meet our people: Lindsay Copeman, Harbourmaster & Operations Manager

then-Dampier Port Authority. Next port of call was Port Hedland where he took on the role of Harbourmaster and General Manager Operations in 2001 before a 12-month stint as Port Hedland Port Authority Acting CEO.

The chance to broaden his experience to include the construction and oil and gas industry saw Lindsay take on the position of Port Captain for Wheatstone. Fortuitously, when that contract ended it coincided with KPA advertising for a Harbourmaster/Operations Manager for the Port of Broome. Lindsay took up the dual role in December 2016 and is relishing his new responsibilities which include maritime security and safety and ensuring that all aspects of the Port’s operations run efficiently.

Lindsay hopes to apply his vast experience to his role with KPA for the benefit of Port customers and Operations employees – a team with whom he is most impressed as a result of their commitment to the Port.

Returning to the north was important to Lindsay and wife Taren and, although they leave adult children behind in Perth and Townsville, they are eager to get back to enjoying the lifestyle on offer.

Camping and fishing are top of their to-do lists – that is after all their visitors over the winter months have returned home!

For KPA’s new Harbourmaster and Operations Manager, returning to WA’s north was one opportunity that was far too good to miss.

Capt. Lindsay Copeman may only have been with KPA for a short time, but he’s right at home in the Harbourmaster’s chair – not surprising given his decades of experience at ports across WA’s north.

Lindsay’s first taste of the north was in the Pilbara, when he took up a role with Rio Tinto in 1990. From there, he moved to Dampier where he was Deputy Harbourmaster for the

Carnarvon Street became Christmas gift and food hall central!

Held in Chinatown, there was live entertainment, camels, a sideshow alley, bouncy castle, free movies for the kids (compliments of Sun Pictures) and carol singing. And of course Santa made a special appearance to the delight of the young and the young-at-heart.

The family fun-filled evening was a huge success thanks to the businesses that rallied together to provide financial support, in-kind donations, gifts for the stocking competition and toys for the Women’s Refuge and the Broome Youth and Families Hub.

Raindrops keep falling…

KPA takes out safety award – again! For the second year in a row, KPA has won the platinum IFAP/CGU Safe Way Award.

After achieving platinum award status last year, KPA has retained the honour and will be proudly displaying the IFAP/CGU Safe Way Award at its HQ.

Platinum is the highest level in the awards and was awarded in recognition of KPA’s occupational health and safety management systems.

HSE Manager Veronica Mair said that while winning the award was an honour, taking part in the entry process was a great way to check the currency and compliance of KPA’s safety systems.

“The result of the desktop audit not only meant that we qualified for the award, but also confirmed that our OH&S management system is performing exceptionally well,” said Veronica.

New gardens and lawn areas now greet visitors to the Port of Broome.

The gardens are part of the Port of Broome entrance beautification project and are serviced sustainably through the new treatment plant, which recycles waste water from KPA tenants’ offices at Port of Pearls House, Border Protection, and from KPA’s own buildings.

The treatment plant’s output can peak at 7,000 litres a day, with 6,000 litres per day available to be used to water the newly-planted garden beds and lawn.

The Department of Health classified the recycled waste water as suitable for urban reticulation and has granted KPA a licence to discharge the water. The water is tested both daily and monthly to ensure the quality stays within the limits of the health licence.

KPA employees are also benefitting from the project as the office car park near the slipway has been landscaped with plants and shrubs which are reticulated from the output of the new wastewater treatment plant.

Recycled water from the treatment plant is being used on the new gardens and lawn at the Port of Broome.

Walk this wayThe Port’s popular walkway will re-open once repair works are completed.

For the safety of the community, pedestrian access to the walkway and adjacent beach was closed in March 2016 as part of the Wharf Extension of Life (WEOL) Project.

The original contracted works were completed late last year but emergent works on the wharf piles were identified and are now under way. Repairs to the walkway itself are also planned.

As a result, the walkway will remain closed to ensure public safety.

“All piles up to bent 20 have been pre-blasted and the engineers determined what works were needed to safeguard the long-term viability of the wharf,” explained Port Engineer Scott Baker.

“Critical repair works to the wharf piles are under way and we expect these works to be completed by July.

“We’ve also removed seven walkway bays ready for repairs and these works will commence once the preferred contractor from our Request for Proposal process has been selected.”

KPA apologises for any inconvenience caused by the walkway closure and the reopening will be an incremental process with the first 180m being opened by July 2017. Repair and reopening of successive sections will take place until works are completed.

Full access to the walkway will not be possible until sometime in 2018.

Selfies with camels at Port of Broome

Cruise ship passengers disembarking in Broome are loving the new gangway and lining up to take selfies in front of the camel photo!

Passengers stepping onto the gangway platform are now greeted by iconic photographs of the Kimberley including sunset camel rides and stunning coastline.

Although functional, Broome’s cruise ship gangway previously had a dull industrial appearance. So, when CEO Kevin Schellack met with Tourism WA in 2016, it was suggested that a facelift for the gangway was in order.

KPA was given $8,000 to help beautify the platform and add a series of iconic Kimberley photographs to it. The photos have been a huge hit and passengers are loving the new-look gangway that provides them with a taste of what Broome has to offer.

In recognition of the increasing number of cruise vessels visiting the Port of Broome (there were 13 large cruise ships during 2016), KPA is also planning an enhanced gangway system that will better accommodate wheelchair access and allow for some tidal movement.

A crane removing a section of the walkway.

Cruise ship visitors are now greeted by iconic images of the Kimberley when they disembark.

Port entry goes green

Many Port of Broome application forms are now available as interactive web forms, allowing them to be completed online and lodged via the website direct to Port Operations.

A range of work permit applications are also available, helping Port users streamline permit requests.

Community members looking to hold an event on Port lands, such as weddings at Entrance Point, can also use the proposed event and activity web form to make bookings easier.

The forms are at www.kimberleyports.wa.gov.au/Port-of-Broome

Marine environment gets health tickA baseline study of the Port of Broome marine environment has given the habitat a clean bill of health, enabling an ongoing monitoring program to be developed to help manage current and future KPA activities.

KPA commissioned environmental consultants Eco Logical Australia (ELA) to conduct a baseline environmental assessment of the marine environment at the Port of Broome, which was launched in June 2016.

A five-day field survey using a large research vessel took water and sediment samples from 12 sites and collected data on benthic infauna, habitat values and incidental fauna sightings.

The field survey also used an underwater drop camera to map benthic habitat. There were seven habitat types identified within the vicinity of the Port. Subtidal bare sand was the dominant habitat type (71%), followed by subtidal rocky reef with low cover of algae/coral (12%), intertidal bare sand (10%), intertidal rocky reef (5%), mangroves (1%), and seagrass (1%).

The survey found the environmental values in the vicinity of the Port were in excellent condition. Concentrations of contaminants like metals, pesticides and organic contaminants in sediment and water were low, and well below relevant guidelines. Benthic infauna (which are very small invertebrates living within the sediment grains) recorded in the study area were typical of those found in inshore coastal waters of the tropics, and 457 individuals from 92 species were collected.

HSE Manager Veronica Mair said the study has filled significant information gaps that previously existed on habitat values in the Port’s waters and has increased KPA’s knowledge of the local marine environment, which will assist with the management of future Port activities.

KPA and ELA employees with the underwater drop camera used to map benthic habitat.

Cultural immersion training is helping expand KPA’s knowledge and understanding of the history and importance of Port lands to local indigenous people.

KPA Board members, CEO Kevin Schellack and Commercial Manager Sean Mullhall all took part in a Cultural Immersion Training day presented by Nyamba Buru Yawuru Ltd.

The day began with Yawuru’s Dianne Appleby providing a cultural induction, after which their CEO Peter Yu gave a ‘Changing the Norm’ presentation before taking the group on an On Country tour of Port lands. The group was

Towering giant calls in againLV108 has become a frequent visitor to the Port of Broome – calling in every couple of months for crucial supplies.

McDermott’s LV108 is a subsea pipe laying vessel based at INPEX’s Ichthys LNG Project

joined by elder Jimmy Edgar and Yawuru country rangers who offered insights into the various areas within Port lands.

KPA’s Board and management were enthusiastic about the training and appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the beliefs and values held by the Yawuru people and the history of Broome and surrounds. They came away with a greater appreciation of Yawuru language and the skin group kinship systems.

The immersion training is another step in building on the relationship that KPA has with Nyamba Buru Yawuru.

L-R: KPA Director Doug Aberle, Pius Gregory, Jacob Smith-Corpus, Edwardo Maher, KPA CEO Kevin Schellack, KPA Deputy Chair David Mofflin, Jimmy Edgar, Johani Mamid, KPA Chair Laurie Shervington, KPA Director Martin Peirson-Jones, KPA Director Anna Dartnell, KPA Director Elisa Fear and Lloyd Pigram.

Insights into indigenous culture

in the Browse Basin, approximately 200km off the coast of Broome.

First visiting Broome in July 2015, the 132m long vessel with a 27m beam has been back six times in 18 months and will make a few more visits before it leaves the gas field in June this year.

After two to three months onsite, LV108 heads into Port to change pipe-laying packages and load stores, fuel, filtered water for concrete operations, general equipment and of course a change of crew! Up to 129 crew members are on-board at any one time, working in shifts to ensure continuous pipe-laying operations.

When in Broome, KPA provides the stevedores to help the vessel’s crew with the loading, ensuring the timely return of LV108 to the gas field.

LV108 boasts two impressive on-board cranes – with capacities of 200 & 100 tonnes respectively – which are highly visible when the vessel is in Port.

HEAD TO THE WEBPort users can now lodge application forms online.