The official launch of T-Ports’ Wallaroo project took place on Saturday. Photo: T-Ports

CONSTRUCTION on T-Ports’ Wallaroo port project has started ahead of its planned opening in time for the 2022-23 harvest, the company said in a statement released last week.

The port will service growers and exporters in South Australia’s Mid North and on the Yorke Peninsula, and will be T-Ports second.

Its existing facility at Lucky Bay on SA’s Eyre Peninsula opened in time for the 2019-20 harvest, and T-Ports also has upcountry sites at Lock and Kimba to service it, with Kimba opening last year.

“The port at Wallaroo is the logical next step in the T-Ports journey,” T-Ports CEO Kieran Carvill said.

“There are efficiencies and cost savings in building this port on the opposite side of the Spencer Gulf to Lucky Bay as we will use the same transhipment vessel, the MV Lucky Eyre.

“We’re looking forward to offering competition for growers in the Yorke Peninsula and Mid North regions and delivering supply chain savings.”

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham said the new port will be a game-changer for local growers.

“The new port has been in planning for a long time and to see construction starting is a fantastic milestone,” Mr Basham said.

“The new port will be warmly welcomed by Yorke Peninsula and Mid North grain growers and it will be ready to receive grain in time for the 2022/23 harvest.”

T-Ports’ Wallaroo facility will feature steel silos capable of  holding up to 20,500 tonnes of grain, a 500-metre rock causeway along which grain will be conveyed to a ship loader, and six bunkers able to store up to 240,000t of grain in total.

Mr Carvill said T-Ports had negotiated an Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation.

“We look forward to building a strong partnership with the Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation and bringing development and career opportunities to the traditional landowners.”

T-Ports in 2020 announced plans to build at Wallaroo.

The port will be Wallaroo’s second grain port.

It is already home to one of Viterra’s six grain-export terminals in SA, with the others being located at Thevenard and Port Lincoln on Eyre Peninsula, Ardrossan on Yorke Peninsula and Inner Harbour and Outer Harbor in Port Adelaide.

Cargill and Semaphore each operate separate terminals in Inner Harbour, and ADM has a terminal at Port Pirie, where Viterra operates a grain terminal in recent years has outturned to land transport only.

Two other grain ports, Port Spencer and Cape Hardy, are on the drawing board for Eyre Peninsula, to reflect what are said to be Australia’s most attractive grain-elevator margins for exporters.