Patrick Operations to Relocate

20 February 2004

Patrick Corporation and the Port of Brisbane Corporation will commence construction of wharf and terminal areas on Fisherman Islands to enable the establishment of Patrick’s automated container terminal and the relocation of its Hamilton-based operations to Fisherman Islands, following the agreement signed today by the two Corporations.

Patrick’s Fisherman Islands’ container operations, currently operating at Berths 1, 2 and 3, will be progressively relocated downstream to Berths 7, 8 and 9 from March 2004 to mid 2005, as upgrades to Berth 7, and new wharf and terminal facilities at Berth 9, are completed.

The construction of Wharf 9 will take approximately 12 months and $35 million to complete. Patrick will invest a further $100 million in terminal infrastructure and equipment.

Port of Brisbane Corporation Chairman Ross Dunning said that this project was a key milestone in the Corporation’s plan to establish a purpose-built, state-of-the-art, common-user car and general cargo terminal and storage precinct on Fisherman Islands that would cater for the long-term future growth of the car industry.

Once Patrick has relocated its container operations from berths 1, 2 and 3, the terminal areas will be upgraded and a flyover built to a long-term storage site on Whimbrel Street, representing a further $25 million investment by the Port of Brisbane Corporation.

This will then trigger Patrick to move its break-bulk operations and vehicle pre-delivery and inspection facilities from Hamilton to the new Fisherman Islands facilities.

Mr Dunning said the need for the relocation of the port from Hamilton was first recognised in the early 1970s when Fisherman Islands was identified as the preferred future location for Port of Brisbane.

“The signing of the Relocation Agreement with Patrick today is the first step in the relocation process, but not all port operations at Hamilton are affected by this agreement. Some wet-bulk and dry-bulk trades will continue to be stevedored at Hamilton by both Patrick and P&O stevedores for up to another 15 years,” he said.