DP World Australia’s Melbourne Terminal expansion, at the former Bentley Chemplax site, commissioned on March 15, 2016, has signalled the start of a range of capital investment projects in from DP World for 2016-17.
Construction commenced in at the Melbourne Terminal in September, 2015 and the expansion been delivered under budget and in line with the original schedule by contractors, Fulton Hogan, according to DP World.
PTI previously reported that DP World had won an ongoing leasing battle with the Port of Melbourne after it was asked to pay approximately US$60 million annually to the Victorian government as part of the port’s $6 billion privatisation shift.
The site provides an additional 100,000 TEU container capacity per year, increasing the total capacity of the terminal to 1.4 million TEU per year.
Following the Bentley Chemplax project, the Melbourne terminal intends to enter its next expansion phase, with the partial closure and redevelopment of Coode Road scheduled to commence in 2016.
Jason Varsamidis, CFO at DP World Australia, said: “We are investing in the future, this terminal expansion demonstrates our commitment to growing our service offering for our customers.
“Bentley Chemplax is a part of an extensive capital investment program, which has also seen us invest in new quay and automated stacking cranes, an empty container handling facility in Sydney, and 10 new next-generation straddle carriers in Melbourne.”
Paul Scurrah, CEO at DP World Australia, said: “The additional capacity provides our customers with a greater level of service and increased productivity.
“This will enable our Melbourne team to handle additional volumes and offer improved truck turn times, as fewer consolidated moves will be required at the terminal.”
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