Port of Brisbane continues to grow

Issued by Minister for Transport and Minister for Main Roads

13 November 2003

The Port of Brisbane lifted its trade throughput more than 6% last financial year to a record 24.6 million tonnes.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Steve Bredhauer said strong retail and building sectors, and a record year in coal, crude oil, meat and motor vehicle exports in 2002-03 contributed to the 1.42 million tonne improvement on the port’s annual trade.

“This result is even more encouraging because the port’s underlying trade portfolio was more than enough to match the effect of drought in its feeder regions such as the agricultural hinterland and Darling Downs-Maranoa,” Mr Bredhauer said.

“Import trade increased for the first time since 1999-2000 with a rise of 13.6% to 13.7 million tonnes.

“Container trade was up 18.4%, the highest level of growth since the port achieved a 21% jump three years ago.

“That growth, despite one of the worst droughts we’ve ever seen, shows the strength of the corporation’s strategy to become more engaged in multi-modal logistics.

“It's helped the Port of Brisbane to grow to be one of the top three container ports in Australia with one of the biggest capital city port tonnages in the nation.”

Mr Bredhauer tabled the corporation's annual report in State Parliament this week. The corporation achieved a net profit of $24.6 million, $1.49 million more than the previous year - the 10th consecutive record total trade.

The result was well ahead of the forecast profit of $15.89 million, and was assisted by the sale of some non-core properties in the Eagle Farm estate valued at $20.5 million.

The corporation will invest the proceeds in port and port-related infrastructure at Fisherman Islands.

The annual report shows the corporation spent more than $77 million on capital works projects during 2002-03, including an early start on construction of Berth 9 as part of a strategy to relocate port users from Hamilton to Fisherman Islands.

The Port of Brisbane Corporation 2002/2003 Annual Report is available on the Media Room Publications page.