FREMANTLE PORTS PORTFOLIO NEWSLETTER 5TH DECEMBER 2019

Chick shelters are out, pest control has been in place for months and new signage has been erected … our Rous Head Fairy Tern sanctuary is open for the summer breeding season. Established on reclaimed land in 2013, the sanctuary was the most successful breeding site in the metropolitan area last summer for Fairy Terns, a listed threatened bird species.

Japanese naval icebreaker Shirase arrived in port on 27 November for five days before taking scientists to the Southern Ocean. This Shirase and the previous icebreaker called Shirase have been calling at Fremantle in November for 37 years. Shirase is named after the Shirase Glacier which is named after Nobu Shirase, a Japanese pioneer Antarctic explorer.

In a recent national report (Waterline #64) on the container trade, Fremantle Port has the:
• highest percentage of containers transported by rail
• best wharfside crane rate
• best container turnaround time on landside
• best truck turnaround time.

Waterline is produced by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics and compares the container trade at the five major Australian container ports.

State Government authorities are surveying Fremantle Port and surrounds after an invasive ant species, red imported fire ant, was detected.

Undercurrent 19 transformed the port in November! Artists responded to the port with site-specific works. Bennett Miller's Behavioural Ecologies (Red) had us all looking at Victoria Quay with fresh eyes. Fremantle Ports was a major Biennale sponsor.