National honours for local port authority

Southern Ports has been recognised on a national stage taking home two highly commended awards for its ongoing commitment to safety and seafarer welfare at the Australian Shipping and Maritime Industry Awards last week.

The organisation that manages Western Australia’s three ports at Albany, Bunbury and Esperance has worked with its staff and contractors to completely transform its safety culture over the past five years and has gone above and beyond to improve the seafarer experience for the 18,000 seafarers who visit its ports each year.

Southern Ports Chief Executive Officer Keith Wilks said being among the top three within the industry across both safety and seafarer welfare showed that the business was batting above its weight for a regional WA port authority. 

“We know safety is a non-negotiable in any workplace, but we’re particularly proud to go above and beyond given the high skill and risk that goes into port and shipping operations,” said Mr Wilks.

“Through a proactive commitment to creating a safe work environment, Southern Ports has managed to reduce lost time to injuries by 60 per cent since 2019.”

The port authority has also more than halved its total recordable injury frequency rate, while workplace surveys now show it is a top priority among the organisation of more than 340 staff. 

“Rather than investing in safety, we’ve invested in the way people think and operate, empowering our workforce, and that’s what has truly transformed our safety culture.”

“From our office-based teams through to those working on our wharves, we have had a focus on having everyone buy-in to our re-focused safety culture,” Mr Wilks said.

In addition, Southern Ports was recognised for its work to support the thousands of seafarers visiting its ports annually, including the provision of new buses and bicycles to seafarer support groups, providing wi-fi boxes while in port, contributing to care packages and a variety of other means.

“Seafarers continue to be the backbone of our industry globally and they work in very challenging conditions far away from family and friends for long periods, so it’s important to all of us at Southern Ports that we help provide creature comforts while they are in our ports,” Mr Wilks said.

“We love working alongside our local Mission to Seafarers and Stella Maris groups to provide seafarers access to everything our regions have to offer.”

Southern Ports was named in the top three amongst nine finalists in the Safety and Seafarer Award categories at the Australian Shipping and Industry Awards held on 21 November in Melbourne.

The recognition comes a year after Southern Ports was crowned Port of the Year at the same annual awards night.