Melbourne’s ports in a political storm

The development of a second container port to service Victoria has become a political issue between the state government and opposition parties, the Australian Financial Review reported.

The government’s plan to merge the corporations managing the Port of Melbourne and the planned Port of Hastings was blocked by both the opposition and Greens in Parliament last week.

Analysis by Deloitte commissioned by the government indicated that it would cost US$8.1 billion to make Port of Hastings operational by 2020. Tim Pallas, the Ports Minister, said, “The first four years would require investment close to the cost of building the new state-of-the-art Royal Children’s Hospital twice over.”

Chief executive of Shipping Australia, Llew Russell, said any plan to have Hastings developed by 2015 was “impossible” and “crazy” because of environmental considerations and the amount of investment needed.

Victorian Freight and Logistics Council chief executive Ross Elphich said despite it being probable that a terminal operator could be found for Hastings it would need major government investment.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)