The Kwinana Grain Terminal is a grain terminal in

East Rockingham, Western Australia East Rockingham is an industrial suburb within the Kwinana Industrial Area, part of Perth, and located within the City of Rockingham. History The suburb developed as a rural community in the 1850s when various pioneers took up land and settled i ...

. Completed in 1977 and operated by the

CBH Group The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym for Co-operative Bulk Handling) is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia. History CBH was formed on 5 April 1933, at a ...

, the facility consists of a jetty, two horizontal storages, three silos, and four open bulk heads. Grain is transported to the site by rail, stored, and eventually loaded onto ships for export. The facility is a landmark for the Rockingham and Kwinana area and was heritage listed in March 2008. It accounts for over fifty percent of Western Australia's international grain exports.

History

Grain shipments from Western Australia were originally processed from

Fremantle Harbour Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval visits ...

. However, the facility suffered constraints as it could not be enlarged and the harbour could not be deepened to accommodate the increasing size of bulk carriers. The Kwinana Industrial Area, which had been developed since the 1950s, was chosen as the site of a new grain terminal because of the availability of land, the access to a deep water port in

Cockburn Sound Cockburn Sound () is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. It extends from the south of the mouth of the Swan River at Fremantle for about to Point Peron near Rockingham. The total area of the sound is about . It ...

and the available rail connection. Construction of the terminal began in 1969 and was completed in 1977 being officially opened by

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was an Australian politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 8 April 1974 to 25 January 1982. A member of the Western Australian Liberal Party, Liberal Par ...

.The first shipment of grain left the terminal 5 July 1977 for the Mexican Gulf. The terminal set an early record of shipped on an individual vessel from Western Australia, ''MV Bjorgholm'', on 22 November 1979, which was not broken until 2014, when a ship carrying just more left Esperance for Saudi Arabia. The grain terminal component was built on the eastern, landwards side of Rockingham Beach Road, with grain being conveyed underneath the road to the jetty on the western side, thereby maintaining public access to the beach. A granary museum was established at the terminal in the 1990s.

Jetty

The jetty of the facility, the CBH Grain Jetty, is a single-berth jetty and can load grain at up to . It has a berth length of , and four ship loaders. It is part of the

Fremantle Outer Harbour The Fremantle Outer Harbour is the part of Fremantle Harbour located in the Cockburn Sound, at the City of Kwinana, Western Australia. Fremantle Harbour consists of the Inner Harbour, which is situated on the mouth of the Swan River (Western Aus ...

. The jetty can accommodate bulk carriers up to a size of , and, on average, processes 130 shipments per year. The beach either side of the jetty, the northern end of Rockingham Beach and the southern end of

Kwinana Beach Kwinana may refer to: * City of Kwinana, a local government area in Western Australia * Electoral district of Kwinana, an electorate of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly * Kwinana Beach, Western Australia, a suburb in Western Australia * ...

, is an off-leash dog exercise area, while the beach north of it is also a horse exercise area until 10AM, with horses permitted to swim until noon.

Shipments

In 2019–20, the terminal shipped of grain, below its all-time shipping record which it set in 2016–17. The facility can receive up to of grain by rail.

References

{{Reflist CBH Group East Rockingham, Western Australia Fremantle Harbour Grain elevators Heritage places in Perth, Western Australia Industrial buildings completed in 1977 Industrial buildings in Western Australia 1977 establishments in Australia