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Posted by Allen Newton
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15 January, 2026
THE KIMBERLEY Marine Support Base (KMSB) has been granted a Biosecurity Entry Point, opening it to any internationally flagged vessel for direct access to the port.
KMSB managing director Andrew Natta said the new status would prevent the need for vessels to go to another port or another location that has a biosecurity entry point and get cleared before it came to KMSB.
Mr Natta said vessels arriving in the early days of the new facility had to go through that process.
“But our efficiencies are so great that they were still viable to do that,” he said.
“Going in and being piloted and tugged into another location and then coming to us was an extra cost of $80,000 to $100,000.
“But now those vessels no longer have to do that. They can come directly to us, so it's going to be a huge cost saving to industries and also it adds to our efficiency.”
Mr Natta said the biosecurity rating was the next step in the path to First Point of Entry status which he estimated would take place in stages over the next six to 18 months.
“The biosecurity entry point means that it is a recognised facility and piece of infrastructure that can accept international vessels. And then the first point of entry piece is where a vessel comes in and it has particular products and there is an agreed or approved process for dealing with that.
“So in our case, if we were to receive a steel structure, the international flagged vessel can come to us. It can be dealt with. And then the offloading of its material will be dealt with through a biosecurity process to ensure that there's no invasive species.
“And we have an approved process to deal with it should that be discovered. Typically in a port, if it can't be dealt with, it goes back on the vessel or it comes off and it's washed or fumigated.
“Broome already has FPOE for certain products. At the moment we're looking to expand on that.
“With our upgrade, with the brand new facility, it's also bringing it in line to be able to deal with all of those products that want to come in and want to go out. Getting our biosecurity entry point was part of reaching that point to allow those international vessels to come in.”
Mr Natta said it was also about maintaining vessels that are servicing the Browse oil and gas fields and further south.
The facility was all about efficiency according to Mr Netta, enabling them to cover the full gamut of vessels that need to come and go.
He quoted cattle vessels where it was possible to load a vessel that's double the typical size and do it in half or less than half a day. “It was under seven hours,” he said. “Whereas typically it'd take several days.”
“Having the vessel come directly to us, being able to load them as quickly as we are able to because of the way that our facility is designed, all helps.
“Trucks are never having to reverse. They're always going forwards, in and out -it’s all of those things and this just adds to that.”
Mr Natta said KMSB was focused on particular industries in the region which would benefit both the region and KMSB.
That included agriculture, cruising, general cargo, supporting the likes of the town of Broome and other hinterland towns and also those resource companies that require consumable items, the oil and gas industry and the local marine industry.
“For us it's focused on getting those industries that we can deal with first and then with ports as an economic enabler, off the back of them, industries grow.
“Right now our focus is to be able to service all of those industries so that they're not having to decide to go to Fremantle and then drive the product back up 2500 kilometres each way.”
Mr Natta said it had been a gentle start for the facility and getting approvals in place before peak season starting in February and April of this year.
“So having the biosecurity entry point, working with the state government and the federal government, it's been fantastic, going very well and we're very happy and we're looking forward to servicing peak season of 2026.”
