Port starts growth drive

Bid to reinvigorate Geelong wharves, create 3100 jobs

AN ambitious new strategy to reinvigorate the Port of Geelong would see 18 million tonnes of imports and exports flowing through the trade hub each year by 2035, generating 3100 jobs.

The rebranded GeelongPort this week launched a plan to kickstart what was once the heart of Geelong’s industry and still remains a major driver of the Victorian economy.

With 15 berths, GeelongPort is the second largest port in the state — managing more than $7 billion of trade and taking in more than 600 vessels each year.

Despite its success, GeelongPort chief executive Brett Winter said the port had “been in the shadow” for too long.

Mr Winter said the business was using “a science-based approach” to draw traders to the site, supported by speciallycommissioned Deakin University research into the region.

“GeelongPort provides an opportunity for port customers to integrate their operations locally and take advantage of the benefits Geelong has to offer,” he said.

Mr Winter said the port’s strength lay in a combination of location and bulk cargo delivery, and its capacity to massively reduce supply chain costs and issues for suppliers.

“Our rural regions rely on GeelongPort to help move key bulk and break bulk goods, including crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals, steel, woodchips, fertilisers and grains, without having to bear the brunt of costs associated with a capital city port,” he said.

GeelongPort will also launch an apprenticeship program next year to tap into the region’s logistics and stevedore sector.

“A lot of these jobs went away ... we’re really trying hard to build that back up,” Mr Winter said. “We really want to build those skills back in that might have been lost.”

Corio MP Richard Marles, who visited the site recently to discuss GeelongPort’s new strategic direction, said there was nowhere else in Australia that offered such a perfect combination of location and opportunity for business.

He said the port was “one of the real pillars of Geelong” and central to the city becoming a national transport and logistics centre.

“The port is the reason we’re here — it’s our oldest industry and it’s as essential to our future as it has ever been,” he said.

As part of the reinvigoration campaign, the Port of Geelong is offering short and long-term leasing opportunities, including four berths from 180m to 375m at Corio Quay and three berths of 621m at Lascelles Wharf.

Australia’s biggest building materials company, Boral, this week applied to the Environment Protection Authority to run a clinker cement facility at Lascelles Wharf.