Southern Ports was established on October 2014 following the merger of the Bunbury Port Authority, Albany Port Authority and Esperance Ports Sea & Land. Southern Ports is a Western Australian Government Trading Enterprise that develops and operates three ports on commercial principles to ensure the needs of importers and exporters now and in the future can be met in a safe and sustainable way with the support of customers and the communities. The three ports of the Southern Ports play key roles in the facilitation of trade and economic development of the three southern regions of the State of Western Australia through the cities of Albany, Bunbury and Esperance. Southern Ports provides and maintains shipping channels, navigation aids, common or single user cargo wharves, leased land and facilities, road and rail transport infrastructure, moles and seawalls, and other port infrastructure, such as buildings, water, power and public amenities. Other services provided directly or indirectly include overall port planning and coordination, stevedoring, ship scheduling and berthing allocation, port communications, mooring, security services, emergency response, hazardous cargo services and quarantine and waste disposal services.