Port of Newcastle’s container ambitions continue to grow, with container operations now forming part of the Multipurpose Terminal’s services at the Mayfield 4 Berth.
The Empty Container Park compliments Port of Newcastle’s Multipurpose Terminal container capability and growth, with Empty Container Park storage ideally located adjacent to the Multipurpose Terminal minimising additional landside movements.
Port of Newcastle CEO, Craig Carmody said that in the financial year ending 30 June 2022, over 60 per cent of NSW container export were empty containers.
“Empty container management is a vital function for efficient container trade operations,” Craig said.
“Empty container parks aid in managing the imbalance between imports and exports that exists within Australian container operations by assisting container flow.”
Beneficiaries of the Empty Container Park will be agri-businesses throughout the Hunter, New England and North-West, who historically have found it challenging to access empty containers to package produce for export.
Senior Manager of Business Development at Port of Newcastle, Kate McArthur, said in the future, access to a ready supply of empty containers will allow farmers to export more produce.
“Having access to empty containers aids speed to market, which allows exporters to take advantage of opportunities and capitalise on good prices,” Kate said.
“We are hopeful by working with farmers, business owners and other key stakeholders we can continue to develop infrastructure to better serve the needs of our future customers.
“A challenge for agri-businesses, particularly in the last few seasons, has been accessing empty containers to fill and send back to port.
“With growth of our operations and capabilities, we aim, over time, to fill this gap in the market and ensure our farmers and agri-businesses have every opportunity to take full advantage of large harvest seasons and export their product effectively and efficiently.”
Back-of-berth hardstand expansion works are currently underway at the Multipurpose Terminal, with waterside works to begin later in the year to accommodate larger vessels.
Once complete, the Multipurpose Terminal will be able to accommodate 85 percent of container vessels that arrive in Australia.
IMAGE | Port of Newcastle empty containers
