New container berths up for grabs at Brisbane

The concession is likely to attract interest from a wide audience, as the Port of Brisbane has become Australia’s fastest-growing container port in percentage terms, with compounding container trade growth in excess of 11% per annum over the past five years.

The port believes that this trend will continue as the population of South East Queensland – the port’s primary catchment area – grows. The RFP process will seek proposals for the licensing of either or both of: Berth 11 (and the leasing of approximately 14 hectares of adjacent terminal land); or Berth 11 (and the leasing of approximately 14 hectares of adjacent terminal land) with put and call options for the licensing of Berth 12 (and the leasing of approximately 12.4 hectares of adjacent terminal land). “Based on current container trade growth, capacity forecasts and operational performance benchmarks, we have identified the need for the new berths and their associated terminals to be operational by 2011 and 2013 respectively,” the Corporation’s chief executive, Jeff Coleman said. “Construction of Berth 11 is planned to begin in November 2008, with construction of Berth 12 to begin soon after. “We are now offering a valuable opportunity in the Australian market, not only for stevedoring operations, but also potentially for integrated logistics activities, such as container parks and warehousing, on close-toterminal sites,” he added. The additions will take the number of dedicated container wharves at the port to nine.

Mr Coleman said that the A$202.5m expansion project was the latest in a series of major infrastructure improvement projects at the port.

“Construction of an additional dedicated container wharf (Wharf 10) has commenced and is scheduled for completion early in 2008. And in May this year, we announced that we would be building a new 210m general-purpose wharf to handle bulk and break-bulk cargoes,”he said.

More details can be found at www.portbris.com.au/rfp.