Fremantle Port and the people responsible for $30 billion worth of trade a year

Updated

They scale ships the size of buildings to keep goods flowing through one of Australia's biggest shipping hubs.

Meet the men and women of Fremantle Port.

Fremantle Port processes one of the most diverse range of goods in the country.

And the bulk of WA's imports and exports travel by sea.

But it's also one of the world's most remote capital city ports.

A small but dedicated team at the port help link WA to the world and facilitate $32.8 billion in trade passing through Perth each year.

That's $91 million a day, or $3.8 million every hour.

Every ship that comes into Fremantle is greeted at sea by a pair of small craft masters.

While his partner drives the pilot transfer vessel, Doug Watson is tasked with wrangling the ladder.

Their aim: to get a pilot safely onto every ship entering the harbour.

"Basically, we're like a taxi service for the pilots

"And the pilots are like the valet parking."

Day and night, whenever a ship arrives in the waters off Fremantle Port, a local pilot takes control of the vessel.

They have nerves of steel

And more than a decade of experience at sea at the highest ranks.

Captain Stuart Proctor leads the 14-strong team of Fremantle pilots.

"They're among the highest trained and most skilful seafarers in the world," he says.

A ship's master takes a vessel across oceans, but a pilot knows the local waterways like the back of their hand.

So they take the ship the final step into port, safely manoeuvring it without damaging vital state infrastructure.

But to get aboard incoming vessels, pilots need to climb onto a moving ship.

"It's probably the worst part of the job," Captain Proctor says.

"Unfortunately, it's a free climb.

"You can't wear a safety harness because you're going between two moving vessels.

"If we did use a safety harness and became trapped, it would make it even worse.

"The idea is the boat comes alongside for the transfer

"Then it peels away and we're left to climb.

"It's not for everybody.

"Some people might be the best ship handlers

"But they just don't like heights and they don't like climbing up the side of ships.

"We get on a different ship every day, with a crew we've never met.

"You've got language barriers, cultural barriers and there's different training standards.

"We're relying on somebody rigging a rope ladder that you've never seen before."

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority sets certain standards for the ladders and the transfer process.

But foreign shipping companies don't always follow the rules.

"It's a fairly traditional, old method," Doug Watson says.

"And it gets hairy at times.

"Especially if the ship's rolling and you're rolling."

Trying to keep the transfer vessel steady is Sam Harvey.

"We are quite like a taxi, more or less, but there's a lot to the job," he says.

"You need to have a certain trust for each other.

"There are a lot of things that can go wrong, but that's just a part of it."

Ensuring things run smoothly is acting harbour master Stuart Davey.

"There is no typical day," he says.

"Things are happening on the run all the time.

"Absolutely everything can be in a container — food products, DVDs, toys for Christmas …

"When our grain jetty is at capacity, we start shipping grain out in containers.

"You can even fill a container with a bladder and it can be loaded with oil products.

"The port itself is like a big ship, it just doesn't go anywhere," he says.

If the Port is a ship, working on the “bridge” is Greg Rewega in the control tower.

At 42.6 metres above the harbour, it is the highest point in Fremantle.

It is manned by two vessel traffic service officers (VTSOs), 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

Mr Rewega has worked in the tower for six years, but he was born in Port Hedland and cut his teeth working on oil rigs and drill ships.

"Maybe [shipping] was installed in my blood," he says.

VTSOs are the eyes and ears for the port.

They also call the shots, making snap decisions often with multi-million-dollar implications.

"Either way there's money involved," Mr Rewega says.

"There always is and it's always big money."

Much of the action happens in the early hours while the rest of the city sleeps.

"They've just got no idea that there's all these big beasts moving around out here."

At the ground level, getting those "beasts" safely to a berth are port services officers (PSOs) like Marlee Jones.

"I still get excited to see a ship come in even though it's happened so many times.

"It's a bit of a shock to see how big they are."

About 93,000 vehicles arrived in Fremantle last year aboard car carriers like this.

The ships are referred to as ROROs — short for roll-on, roll-off — and can shift hundreds of cars in a few hours.

PSOs handle everything from ships to security patrols and traffic management.

They are also on standby as first responders, trained to deal with fires and oil spills.

And the Port Authority regularly coordinates search and rescue operations.

Last year three people were stranded at sea for hours before they were pulled onto this pilot transfer vessel.

Credits

Reporter/photographer: James Carmody

James Carmody Producer/editor: Liam Phillips

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Topics: sea-transport, perth-6000, wa, fremantle-6160

First posted