• The only City north of Geraldton WA, pop ca 25,000 
• WA’s second busiest airport 
• A key logistics hub for the Pilbara hinterland
• A Port City, exporting some $60B of product annually from a dozen locations
• Rio Tinto’s railway services 16 inland mines on 1700km of track
• Local Government employs over 400 persons with a revenue of some $130M

The only City north of Geraldton, Karratha is a major logistics base and service centre for the region.  It has a diverse economy, high quality infrastructure and major industrial development.  

Home to nearly 25,000 people spread over 5 towns, the central part of Karratha was rebuilt in the decade beginning 2008 and it now receives high marks from its community for liveability, infrastructure, and services.

Its industrial infrastructure is huge.  The North West Shelf project, with its 5-train LNG Karratha Gas Plant, was the largest project in the world when built.  Massive port and loading facilities stretch some 250 km along the Karratha coast from Cape Preston, Mistaken Island, East Intercourse Island, Parker Point, the Burrup Peninsular-Mermaid Sound and Cape Lambert.  New ports are being established at Cape Preston East and Balla Balla and Rio Tinto alone services 16 inland mines and towns on 1700km of railway track.

The region has excellent communications, with fibre to the premises in all its new subdivisions offering up to 100 MB/sec.  The City has spent some $100M developing its airport over the last decade and now owns WA’s second busiest airport with ca 70 flights per week to Perth. Three direct shipping services connect Karratha with Singapore every fortnight.

The City of Karratha is a wealthy town which exports some $60B of products annually including iron ore, LNG, LPG, condensate, natural gas (piped to Perth), ammonia, magnetite, salt, ammonium nitrate and minor quantities of other materials including high quality stone.

Karratha is the home of the Pilbara Universities Centre, providing tertiary education through several universities for most degrees.  It has a world class theatre and library in its Red Earth Arts Precinct, a magnificent sporting centre at its Karratha Leisureplex and has close to $1 billion of infrastructure to manage.  

The Pilbara Regiment is an Army reconnaissance and surveillance homed at Taylor Barracks in Karratha.  The Regiment has a range of equipment to enable its complex, wide ranging task and its full-time and reservist soldiers connect with bases across the Pilbara.

With Port Hedland, Karratha is the engine of the nation, supplying 40% – 50% of the entire nation’s exports.  Protecting this important centre is vital to the economic security of the country.