About Victorian ports
Victoria's commercial trading ports are engines for Victoria's economic growth. They provide critical transfer points in Victoria's transport network and connect Victoria to international markets.
Information about Victorian ports
Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is owned by the Victorian public and is managed by the Port of Melbourne Corporation – a statutory authority of the State Government.
It is Australia's largest container and general cargo port, handling around 38 per cent of the nation's container trade. It handles nearly $75 billion in international and coastal trade each year - equivalent to over $142,000 per minute - and contributes more than $2.5 billion every year to the Victorian economy.
Main exports handled by the port include beverages, dairy products, cereal grains and stockfeed. The port also handles imports such as paper, furniture, electrical equipment, fruit and vegetables, and machinery.
The Port of Melbourne Corporation has prepared a Port Development Strategy which sets out a framework for the growth and successful operation of the Port of Melbourne over the next 30 years.
Port of Geelong
The Port of Geelong was privatised in July 1996 and is now managed by GeelongPort. The port handles 25 per cent of Victoria's overseas exports, most of which are raw materials like petroleum products, bulk and bagged grain and woodchips. Crude oil, petroleum products and fertiliser raw material dominate the port's imports.
Port of Hastings
The Victorian Government has committed to developing the Port of Hastings as a second container port in Victoria to complement the Port of Melbourne and to cater for the growth of container movements in and out of the state.
With container throughput at the Port of Melbourne expected to quadruple over the next 25 years the Port of Hastings development is critical for the future of the growing freight trade and the viability of the sector well beyond the next decade.
The Port of Hastings handles exports of steel, iron, ferrous alloys and LPG. Import trade is in petroleum products. The port also handles coastal movement of steel, crude petroleum and LPG.
Port of Portland
The Port of Portland was privatised in July 1996 and is now owned and managed by the Port of Portland Pty Ltd. The port handles dry, break and liquid bulk cargoes.
The port is the international gateway for the Green Triangle Region, an area that straddles western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. It specialises in the storage and handling of bulk commodities and serves the region's rich agricultural, forestry and mining industries as well as locally-based aluminium and fertiliser producers.
Approximately four million tonnes of cargo, valued at approximately $1.5 billion, is transferred over Portland wharves annually. Exports includes grain, woodchips, logs, aluminium ingots, mineral sands and livestock while the major import commodities include alumina, liquid pitch and fertiliser products.
Land use strategies
Long term port land use strategies for Victoria's four commercial trading ports were published in 2009.