Located to the east of the Wollongong suburb of Port Kembla, the harbour of Port Kembla comprises a 8,439 megalitres (298.0×10^6 cu ft) body of water with a surface area of 1.4 square kilometres (0.54 sq mi) at a dredged average depth of 6.1 metres (20 ft) drawn from a catchment area of 6.3 square kilometres (2.4 sq mi).

[10] After Port Kembla was selected for further development as the main port for the Illawarra region,[5] the two existing coal wharves and 496.5 acres of foreshore land were acquired by the government—during 1900 and 1901—but the companies were allowed to continue to use their former wharves pending a public tender.

The new breakwaters of the Outer Harbour not only provided a reliably safe anchorage but also protected the jetties structures from damage.

In 1906, the North Bulli Company won the right to use Port Kembla to ship its coal, dooming its Hick's Point Jetty at Austinmer.

The coal loading equipment and jetty was designed by the NSW Department of Public Works under the direction of Ernest de Burgh and constructed by contractors Kelly & Lewis in 1914.

The two moveable loaders were also of a modern design, unlike the primitive chutes and staithes used up to that time.

It had a connection to the government rail network and had two electric grab cranes suitable for unloading bulk cargoes.

A wharf was completed in 1928, on land leased by Australian Iron & Steel from the NSW Department of Public Works.

The ore shipment of 5,500 tonnes[24] had been mined by BHP at Iron Knob in the Middleback Ranges.

In 1952 the first Yampi-class bulk carriers delivered iron ore to Port Kembla, carrying maximum loads of 11,000 tonnes.

The entrance to the new harbour was dredged to a depth of thirty-two feet to allow use by large ore-carriers.

The first coal loader at the present site was commissioned in 1964 with a capacity of two million tonnes per annum.

[28] In 2007, imported car unloading operations were moved from Sydney Harbour to Port Kembla.

The submerged sections of the tunnel—each weighing 30,000 tons—were built there, temporarily sealed, floated and towed to Sydney for installation.

Afterwards, the casting basin was used to make huge concrete gravity-based structures for two off-shore oil platforms, from 1993 to 1996.