Final approvals for the Albany Port Expansion have been granted by the State government of Western Australia, after the Commonwealth Government granted approval during 2010. Albany Port Authority’s proposal is required to meet Environmental Protection Act 1986, Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981 requirements, and any potential impacts were presented in a Public Environmental Review document which was subject to public comment between the 24^th of September and 19^th of November, 2007.

The proposal is related to the Grange Resources Southdown Iron Ore Project, which proposes to export ore from the port via a 90km long slurry line from mining operations at Wellstead. Expansion of the port to accommodate cape sized vessels increases the feasibility of the Southdown Iron Ore Project and future shipping of iron ore from the Great Southern Region of WA, adding economic benefits to the Town of Albany.

The Project requires further dredging of the channel within King George Sound and Princess Royal Harbour; utilising some of the dredged material to construct an additional berth adjacent to the Port. This would allow an increase in annual tonnage throughput from 4 million tonnes to about 11 million tonnes per year. The majority of dredged material will be dumped between Bald Head and Breaksea Island. Any future constructions at the new berth will fall under a separate approvals process to be determined by the Environmental Protection Authority.