Second half surge boosts Melbourne port numbers

Port of Melbourne Corporation said the rise followed a by a strong trade surge in the second half of the financial year.

Total trade was reported to have risen by 5.5% to 75.4 million revenue tonnes, with a strong container trade in containers and cars the primary reason.

A PoMC spokesman said the result confirmed Melbourne’s status as the “pre-eminent national market leader in these cargo sectors” in terms of volume.

The total number of loaded containers shipped to and from the port increased rose 6.4% to a record of 1.8 million TEU.

Empty container movements declined 6.3% however, down to 435,000 TEU.

Meanwhile loaded export containers rose at a greater rate than loaded import containers growing by 8.6% and 7.2% respectively during the past.

Total non-containerised trade increased 6.7% to 21.1 million revenue tonnes, with new motor vehicles the largest contributor to the growth surge.

The motor vehicle trade bounced back strongly after the global financial crisis to record massive growth of 27.4% to 375,000 units, amounting to the port handling over 1000 cars day on average.

“The trade rebound was clearly evident in our strongest January to June period on record with an average monthly growth rate of 15.8% on last year’s volumes,” PoMC chief executive Stephen Bradford said.