Commodities on the rise in Melbourne - Ports And Shipping - Port of Melbourne, Australia - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Business Asia, August, 2002

Trade through the Port of Melbourne has increased by almost six per cent in the last 12 months, recently released figures show.

Around 23.6 million mass tonnes of cargo moved in and out of the port over the last 12 months.

This performance is the equivalent of around $125,000 worth of trade every minute of every day, reinforcing the Port of Melbourne's status as one of Victoria's key competitive strengths.

The figures show that Australian exports handled through the Port of Melbourne grew by a further 6.1 per cent in 2001/02, with a new record of 11.3 million mass tonnes of overseas exports leaving the country via Melbourne.

Revenue tonnes in and out of the port increased by eight per cent, to 49.2 million.

A record 1.42 million TEUs--or the equivalent of 1.42 million 20-foot containers--moved through the port during the year.

The figure represents a 5.9 per cent growth in international container movements to 1.14 million TEUs and 14 per cent growth in coastal container movements, to 281,000 TEUs.

Key commodities

These latest trade figures show growth in a number of such key commodity items exported through the port, including a significant 121 per cent growth in the export of paper and fibre boards. Exports of cereal grains, such as wheat, barley and rice, were up by 43 per cent, to 2.1 million tonnes, fruit and vegetable exports rose by 16 per cent and there was a 17 per cent growth in wine exports via the Port of Melbourne--43,000 tonnes more than the previous year.

About 35 per cent of wine exported from Australia is now shipped through Melbourne and that percentage is expected to grow, according to the report.

Quadruple

Movement into the port of some commodities, including shipments from other parts of Australia, also climbed during the year.

Such coastal shipments included a 21 per cent growth in timber, 13 percent in petroleum products and 20 per cent growth in pulp and waste paper shipments from other parts of Australia.

The Port of Melbourne is Australia's largest container port, handling 37 per cent of the nation's container trade. Over the past five years, container throughput has grown at an average annual rate of 7.6 per cent.