Fremantle set twin records in the year to June 2025 — 887,514 TEU of containers and 132,478 imported vehicles — handling more than 99% of Western Australia's box trade, while its 1960s passenger terminal, one of only two in Australia that can berth two large cruise ships at once, is being folded into a new waterfront precinct.
Fremantle is Australia's fourth-largest container port and the west's only significant one: the Inner Harbour at Victoria Quay and North Quay takes the boxes, cars and breakbulk, while the Outer Harbour at Kwinana, 22 km south, runs the bulk trades — grain, alumina, petroleum. Total port trade came to A$45.95 billion last financial year on 1,335 ship visits, with a profit before tax of A$83.4 million.
The port is the reason the city exists — and increasingly its showcase: Fremantle Ports is developing Victoria Quay as a tourism precinct, with events and public access woven between the working berths.
The Fremantle Passenger Terminal, opened in December 1960 and heritage-listed, is Australia's second-largest cruise terminal and one of only two capable of berthing two large ships simultaneously. The 2024–25 season ran August to June with 27 calls — Crown Princess, Westerdam, Silver Nova among them — and WA's cruise traffic now sits at 160% of pre-COVID levels.
The passenger geography is honest: the terminal is a 15–20 minute walk from Fremantle station over the pedestrian bridge, with a free shuttle to Kings Square on ship days; Perth CBD is 30 minutes away on the Fremantle line. From B Shed next door, the Rottnest Express ferries leave for the island — cruise passengers can be cycling past quokkas within the hour.
Our read: treat Fremantle as the destination, not the transfer. If your ship calls here, skip the Perth shuttle and keep the day in Freo — the Prison, the Markets, the Fishing Boat Harbour — then walk back along Victoria Quay as the working port does its evening shift. If you are joining a cruise, fly in two days early and put one of them on Rottnest: the B Shed ferry terminal is a two-minute walk from the cruise berths.
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