Port Of Melbourne Independent Container Capacity Review

The brief. The Port of Melbourne required a fully independent assessment of current and future container terminal capacity at Australia's largest port, to underpin decisions on new terminal space, infrastructure requirements, development costs and timing.

The challenge. Independence was the point. The port's three international container terminals, operated by DP World, ICTSI and Patrick, handled around 3.2 million TEU between them at that time, and a neutral assessment was needed.

That meant building capacity models from first principles rather than accepting operator-supplied assumptions, across three terminals with different operating regimes, and testing each against a full range of technological options rather than a single assumed future.

What we did. We built a purpose-specific capacity simulation model covering all three terminals, establishing existing maximum capacities and then modelling ultimate capacities under a range of technological regime options, together with their effect on overall port capacity.

Potential long-term capacities were tested against possible infrastructure investment in the channel, at the berths, in the yards and at the gates. All trade and fleet forecasts were integrated directly into the modelling.

We undertook multiple external stakeholder engagements with the incumbent terminal operators, and the work extended to the potential further development of Webb Dock and the relocation of coastal trade and break bulk.

The outcome. The review produced a roadmap for how the port must develop over the next thirty years to meet its trade facilitation remit against changing fleets and vessel sizes.

The study was designated as being of national interest, and its outcomes were published in full by the Port of Melbourne.

 

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