A history of Port Kembla shipping

Captain James Cook named Red Point in 1770 when he mapped the coastline of eastern Australia in the sailing ship Endeavour.

After its coal mine was opened at Mount Kembla, the Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company built a private jetty at Red Point and a rail line from their mine at Mount Kembla to the jetty. Both the rail line and the 275 m long jetty were completed in 1883 and the first shipment of 1,000 tons of coal from the jetty was on the steamship Arawata. That year, the company shipped a total of 21,552 tons of coal. 

Coal was transported by rail along the Mount Kembla jetty and loaded onto a ship.

In 1889, the Southern Coal Company completed a 475 m long jetty at Red Point, linking it by rail to the State Railway. 

The Southern Coal Company Jetty at Port Kembla was completed in 1889. 

Because of its association and proximity to the Mount Kembla mine, in 1892 the Red Point area officially became known as Port Kembla. The name ‘Kembla’ is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘plenty of wild fowl.’

Significant development occurred in the area throughout the 1880s and 1890s, including construction of coal storage infrastructure.

In 1885, the state government made a decision to develop Port Kembla as the deep water port for the southern coalfields, instead of utilising the small Wollongong Harbour. The Port Kembla Harbour Act was passed by state parliament in 1889, and that allowed for the construction of two breakwaters to protect the many ships now visiting the port. In 1900, construction of the eastern breakwater commenced, and construction of the northern breakwater commenced eight years later. 

The eastern breakwater at Port Kembla. 

A low level jetty, known as No. 4 jetty, was built in 1908 and was used for loading and unloading general cargo.

With the advent of the Hoskins Steelworks in the late 1920s, the growth of Port Kembla harbour was assured. In 1928, Hoskins' Iron & Steel built No. 2 jetty to the south of No. 1 jetty. The No. 2 jetty was used continuously until the opening of the Inner Harbour made it redundant.

Photo from 1928 showing Hoskins blast furnace completed. Source: Hoogendoorn, W 1999, “1898-1998 Roadstead to port: celebrating the port’s centenary of service to the Illawarra”, Port Centenary Committee, Port Kembla 

The following decades saw a huge increase in shipping traffic. This led to State Government approval for a second harbour at Port Kembla to cope with the extra demand for docking and loading space. Construction and dredging commenced in the 1950s and the Inner Harbour opened in November 1960.

Satellite map of Port Kembla showing the two breakwaters that form the Outer Harbour with a narrow channel to the Inner Harbour. Source: https://mapcarta.com/W50981330

Agencies controlling Port Kembla

There are two different organisations with different roles in the ports supply chain at Port Kembla.

NSW Ports is owned by a consortium of leading institutional investors with long term interests in a range of Australian infrastructure assets. It is responsible for managing land-based tenant leases and port infrastructure.

The Port Authority of NSW is a government agency with responsibility for what happens on the water – navigation, waterside security and ensuring the operational safety of commercial shipping in ports throughout NSW.

Port Kembla photo showing the two breakwaters and the Inner and Outer Harbours. Source: Graeme Bartlett https://mapcarta.com/Port_Kembla_F1126105723

The functions of Port Kembla

Port Kembla is an international trade gateway for bulk agricultural, construction and mining industries. Port Kembla supports vehicle imports and manages grain, coal, cement and steel products. It connects to Asia, New Zealand, and other Australian ports via global shipping lines. The port features deepwater berths, rail access, and customs infrastructure to handle high-volume logistics.

It is New South Wales’s largest motor vehicle import hub and the state's largest grain export terminal and second largest coal export port. The Port of Newcastle is the largest coal export port in the world.

Grain terminal

Port Kembla has the state's largest grain export terminal. There are two grain facilities located in the Inner Harbour, including storage and handling capability for bulk grain exports. Graincorp operates the Port Kembla Grain Terminal adjacent to Berth 104, a common user berth operated by NSW Ports. Quattro Ports operates the bulk grain handling facility adjacent to Berth 103. Both facilities have the capability to receive and dispatch products by ship, rail and road and export a variety of grains from the New South Wales market.

Silos for storage of grain at Port Kembla.

Port Kembla Coal Terminal

Berth 102 is the main exporting coal terminal with an available berth length of 300 metres. Vessels up to ‘Capesize’ of 300 metres length overall are loaded with stockpiled coal by gantry ship loaders. The Coal Terminal has the capability to handle ships as large as 166,000 tonne bulk carriers.  

A collier berthing at the Port Kembla Coal Terminal in the Inner Harbour. Source: NSW Ports.

A collier being loaded at the Coal Terminal. Source: NSW Ports. 

The Conveyor Belt System for loading coal onto a ship at the Port Kembla Coal Terminal. Source: NSW Ports.

A ship is assisted by tugboats as it is manoeuvred at Port Kembla Coal Terminal. Source: NSW Ports. 

Port Kembla Coal Terminal is equipped to receive coal by road and rail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the 1 kilometre long stockyard can hold up to 850,000 tonnes of coal.

Photo of a bucket-wheel reclaimer that rapidly loads stockpiled coal onto conveyor belts that load coal directly onto ships.

Other functions

The port contributes 2.9 billion dollars to NSW’s Gross State Product every year.

Port Kembla is at the heart of the cement industry in NSW, handling more than one million tonnes annually of cement clinker and cement powder, which arrives on bulk ships from interstate and overseas.

Port Kembla has been approved by the NSW Government as the site of the state's next container terminal once Port Botany nears capacity. Its proximity and access to Sydney's west and southwest means Port Kembla is well positioned to handle the expected growth in freight volumes. A key priority identified in NSW Ports’ strategic plan, is the completion of the Maldon-Dombarton Rail Line, as it will provide a direct link from Port Kembla to the Main Southern Railway Line that will support the growth of southwest Sydney, where the largest population growth in NSW is forecast over the next sixty years.

Port Kembla has a short shipping channel which minimises vessel transit time and contributes to port efficiency. Port Kembla operates 24/7 across two precincts, the Inner Harbour and the Outer Harbour. Australian Amalgamated Terminals (AAT) manage four berths (103, 105, 106 and 107) within two terminals in Port Kembla's Inner Harbour. Port Kembla Gateway operates four berths in the Outer Harbour (202, 203, 204 and 205).

You can watch the NSW Ports - Port Kembla overview video here: https://youtu.be/djFabuQbiqk.

Satellite view showing the two breakwaters and the various berths for ships. 

Aerial view of Port Kembla Outer Harbour. 

In 2020, an energy infrastructure company called Jemena outlined a plan to connect a proposed LNG import terminal at Port Kembla to the Eastern Gas Pipeline (EGP).

A Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal was proposed at Port Kembla in 2020.

Planning approvals for a proposed Port Kembla power station were fast tracked by the New South Wales Government following the declaration of the $1.3 billion project as a Critical State Significant Infrastructure (CSSI). The proposed billion-dollar power station development would produce approximately 635MW of electricity on demand and would employ 35 people to operate it. 

A proposed Port Kembla power station was announced in 2021. 

NSW Ports Master Plan

NSW Ports Master Plan 2063 was issued in June 2025 and is heralded as the master plan for sustainable growth over the next 40 years. This document outlines the anticipated development path over the next decade for Port Kembla and explains that population growth and freight demand will be the main drivers behind future development.

Find out more here: https://www.nswports.com.au/NSWPorts-Master-Plan