Melbourne at risk without deepening

Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney ports currently have deep water or are pursuing channel deepening projects.

The risk for the Victorian economy is that ships will bypass Melbourne in favour of interstate ports. Melbourne would be reduced to the status of a ‘feeder’ port whereby larger vessels call at deeper ports elsewhere and smaller ships service Melbourne.

Business, farmers and consumers will bear the ultimate cost of double and triple handling of cargo as inefficiencies compound and business looks to relocate, taking Victorian jobs with them.

Manufacturing, production, agribusiness and commerce generally – which collectively provide the majority of jobs and hence disposable incomes – rely on the lowest-possible cost inputs and most cost-efficient levels of service to remain competitive.

Professor Henry Ergas from the Prime Minister’s infrastructure taskforce recently noted that ships typically called at two or three ports in Australia but were constrained by the shallowest of them.

The Victorian economy cannot afford Melbourne to be the weakest link.

This makes channel deepening an issue of national importance. Against this background, the Australian Council for Infrastructure Development rates channel deepening as Australia’s most important infrastructure project, expected to add $14.8 billion to gross domestic product by 2030.