Australia’s port peak body Ports Australia has welcomed the announcement by NSW Premier, the Hon Kristina Keneally MLA, of the appointment of the third container terminal operator at Port Botany.

Ports Australia CEO David Anderson said that the NSW Government was to be congratulated for making a timely decision to ensure that the terminal became operational on schedule in 2012.

The new terminal project will add an additional five berths to the existing capacity with 1850 metres of quay line and also encompasses dedicated road and rail access.  Environmental aspects of the project are being very carefully managed and a new secure estuarine environment and new recreational facilities also form part of the project.

“The contribution that ports make to regional and the national economy is often under valued by the community”, Mr Anderson said.  “The new terminal is expected to deliver 9000 new jobs and boost the economy of NSW by at least $16 billion over the next 20 years”.

Mr Anderson further noted that the long term growth of container traffic through Port Botany was compounding on average at 7 percent per annum.  In delivering this project in such a timely manner, Sydney Ports Corporation was ensuring that this robust growth would continue to be efficiently managed through the port.

“All container ports in Australia are experiencing similar growth rates and investing in similar programs to facilitate future trade growth.  Our bulk ports also have massive tonnage increases in prospect to meet global demand for raw materials particularly from Asian markets”, Mr Anderson said.

Mr Anderson said that this was the reason why Ports Australia was closely engaged with the Federal Government and its key agencies on the National Ports Strategy.

“Our goal is to focus attention on the significant implications of this growth and the requirements it generated for adequate road and rail access, for the protection of port land and access corridors, and for the simplification of regulatory and planning regimes to ensure that additional capacity could be brought on stream in an efficient and timely way”, he said.

“The Sydney Port Corporation is to be congratulated for the initiatives it is taking to improve capacity and productivity in port and related operations”, Mr Anderson said.  “Like many of our other ports it, and the community with whom its co-exists, will stand to gain if the benefits of these improvements can be fully realised by strong planning support from governments, to ensure certainty for the future of corridors and terminals serving the port, and in the planning and approvals processes necessary to the future investment in extra capacity”.

Mr Anderson added that the appointment of Hutchison Port Holdings as the third operator at the Port of Brisbane and now at Port Botany meant a national presence of a third operator, which would introduce a new and welcome element of competition into the container stevedoring market.