Port of strategic significance: Melbourne port |
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By: Chingshang * |
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Port of Melbourne is located to the north of the Port Phillip Bay and is conveniently wedged by two fresh water bodies i.e. Yarra River and Maribyrnong River. Port of Melbourne is Australia’s largest and busiest container and general cargo port and handles the shipment of more than 1.9 million containers a year. It handles not less than 40% of the Australia’s container traffic. The financial year 2006-07 marked the sixteenth consecutive year of container trade growth through the Port of Melbourne with a 2.094 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit/container) throughput. Forty-two container shipping lines, as well as a number of other general cargo carriers, make around 3200 ship calls a year to Melbourne. It is one of the most important ports of call in the world. Today, Port Melbourne still serves as a transport hub for passenger and cargo vessels. Many luxury liners, naval vessels and ferries arrive at Station Pier including the daily ferry service, the Spirit of Tasmania, to Tasmania.
The Port of Melbourne has 34 commercial berths at five docks. The business of the Port of Melbourne involves a large number of organisations competing and cooperating to deliver value to their customers, stakeholders and constituents. The port depends on many shipping-related businesses - ship owners, vessel operators/carriers, shipping lines, shipping agents. Both public and private sector companies play a significant role in the successful functioning of the port business at Melbourne. All the land in and around the port of Melbourne is owned by the port of Melbourne corporation. The financial year 2006-07 marked the sixteenth consecutive year of container trade growth through the Port of Melbourne with a 2.094 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit/container) throughout. Shipping containers comes normally in two sizes.20 feet long or 40 feet long. These containers are known as twenty foot equivalents [TEU] or forty foot equivalents [FEU]. The capacity of the cargo ships is measured in terms of TEU. Port of Melbourne has specialised facilities which can pumped in wheat and cement bags in the ship.500 tonnes of wheat can be pumped in the ship in an hour. Some containers have built in refrigerating systems which are commonly known as reefers. This is significant for Melbourne as Victoria exports lots of perishable commodities like fruits and meat. The port of Melbourne handle varieties of cargoes ranging from timber to motor vehicles and specialised berths for dry cargoes including cement, grain, sugar, fly ash and gypsum, plus dedicated facilities for a variety of liquids, from molasses to crude oil and petrochemicals, using the latest handling methods.
Within the port, services are provided to shipping and freight operators by private sector companies operating under long-term leases with Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC). Most of the freight passing through the Port of Melbourne is handled by the two container terminal operators at Swanson Doc - DP World and Patrick Stevedores. Patrick Shipping and Toll Shipping operate dedicated terminals for Bass Strait trade. There are also terminals for general cargo and automotive cargo. The Port of Melbourne is managed with an extensive port mapping system comprising of the state of the art GIS system that allows users to view and query port data, and to generate maps of the port. The system provides information about roads, railways, port buildings and facilities, channels, berths, land use and other features. One of the special attraction of the port of Melbourne for public is the construction of a designated bicycle tour path that follow the outer edge of the port to let people know about what goes on in the various different areas of the port. This is indeed a very exciting option for the visitors to explore the docklands. One can see the port from different angles from different areas but all in a very close range. Normally in many parts of the world docklands are not easily accessible or denied accessibility for many the reasons involved. But port of Melbourne is an exception I must confess. One can have a bare view of the port without any fuss or hassle. I have been seeing the port for quite some time and it is a pleasure and of course a learning experience to have a glimpse of the things going on a port like Melbourne. I really enjoy seeing many container ships entering the port now and then. It gives me a sense of goods and services exchange around the world and its place in the international economy. Most of the trading in the Australia is done through major ports. All the hinterlands of the country are served by ports. Melbourne port being the largest in Australia handles a lot of trade for the entire country. Actually Australia is a big island where the inner lands are serving by many ports. This is the most important gateway for many of the trades with other countries of the world. There are definitely many things which I want to address while writing about the Port of Melbourne even though we see the things from different angles. Only point of exception to ponder here is the difference between the land port and the sea port. Most of the major ports of the world are the contact points of exchange of goods and services. Maximum concentration of trading and business outfits is found to be located in these areas. And most probably are the financial centres of the world. Melbourne is not an exception. It is one of the most vibrant financial capitals in the southern pacific and port of Melbourne plays a significant contribution in its making. All the possible business engagements in the city are carried through port of Melbourne. International trade flourished through port of Melbourne. It is the entry and exit point of the goods and services in the country. If you think about the land ports, the major mode of transportation will be through road and rail networks. Some of the greatest land ports that were developed in recent times will include Shenzhen in china between mainland china and Hong Kong and Ruili in china between Myanmar and China. Indeed these one time small towns were converted into hubs of international trade within a very short span of time. This happens many because of the strategic locational advantages and the timely acts of visionary political and proactive governments. But the locational advantage the place offers has the maximum impact in its rapid development. Our very own Moreh can be one of the best land ports if locational advantages are significant. There is no other place in eastern India that enjoys the same locational benefits as Moreh does. But Moreh, today is nowhere in the international or regional trade and services. At least neighbouring Tamu is doing far better business than Moreh.Its pity that countries concerned are worry more about the number of items to be traded and security policies which are rather practically shows no significance for its existence. Trade and services are more about demand and supply. Infrastructures to carry out trade and services are little or non existent at all. One of the reasons which become synonymous with Manipur is its negative image that could not get rid off with. Manipur, particularly, which can be benefited maximum from the land port at Moreh have to wait for the proposed Look east policy to work out in the South east Asia regional geo political atmosphere. Everybody knows India at large do not have any immediate benefit through its land port at Moreh even though Manipur has. One must not contradict India and Manipur at this stage. India's Look East policy keeps relevant mainly because of the China's increasing role in the region. Constructing few customary road infrastructures in Myanmar will not bring increase volumes of trade when Manipur could not link to the mainland India. Practically, connectivity between Manipur and other parts of India is far from satisfactory. It looks better only on maps. Actually India's Look Policy is theoretically very sound in its framework but it is so sad that it could not be implemented in the way it is expected. As time passes hope just float that Look East Policy unfolds many new opportunities for the state. Catch you all in the next jottings. Check out the gallery on "Port of Melbourne" here. * Chingshang, a Graduate student at University of Melbourne, contributes regularly to e-pao.net. The writer can be contacted at rockm(at)rediffmail(dot)com . This article was webcasted on February 02nd 2008. |
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