William Scott
Southern Ports has become the fifth port authority in the world to achieve global certification of its integrated asset management system.
Southern Ports has designed, developed and deployed the now-accredited system across its three ports at Albany, Bunbury and Esperance over the past four years. It covers an extensive asset base worth more than $1.6 billion and inclusive of 8,700 owned and maintained assets across 14 classes – from sheds, berths and cranes through to plant and equipment, navigation aids and ICT infrastructure.
Southern Ports CEO, Keith Wilks, said that it has been a significant investment by the regional port authority, but one that is already paying off in spades.
“Previously when our assets required maintenance, we would undertake it, but the introduction of our internationally recognised asset management system now provides us a full digital picture of the health and lifecycle of our entire asset base so we can get ahead,” Mr Wilks said.
“The benefits have been significant as it provides us the ability to make data-backed decisions on when to invest in preventative maintenance, when to invest in upgrades and how to make our current assets more effective. It ultimately delivers cost savings because we’re making better investment decisions.
“This accreditation marks a sizable milestone for our organisation and demonstrates that a regional Western Australian port authority can be a global leader.”
Bureau Veritas asset management system auditor, Dave Daines, said that Southern Ports should be proud of its certification achievement.
“Southern Ports has a very unique operating environment across four sites spread over large distances and different regions, so developing an integrated system that would accommodate its needs is no easy feat,” Mr Daines said.
“It’s evident that Southern Ports has put in a tremendous amount of work into asset management over the past four years to bring proactive asset management to the forefront of its business in order to achieve operational excellence and efficiency.”
The improved approach to asset management has assisted Southern Ports through its record capital investment program with close to 70 renewal projects already completed and more than $50 million of capital investment.
Southern Ports has said that it expects to realise further benefits of its new approach to asset management over the next decade as it continues its commitment to asset renewal and creating greater efficiency for port customers.
The ISO 55001:2014 asset management system certification was achieved by Southern Ports in November after a full comprehensive audit of its system and how it’s been embedded across the organisation.
