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Transportation - Sea

In 2001-02, Australia's total merchandise trade (exports plus imports) amounted to 566m tonnes of goods valued at $240.8b. This represented a 15% increase (by weight) and a 31% increase (by value) since 1998-99. By value, 76% of goods were transported by sea, accounting for $99.2b (82%) of exports and $84.6b (71%) of imports. Goods transported by air accounted for 24% ($56.7b) of total trade. Exports accounted for 90% of total trade by weight and 50% by value in 2001-02. The total value of Australia's merchandise exports grew from $86.0b in 1998-99 to $121.1b in 2001-02, an increase of 41%. The volume of exports increased by only 17%, the difference reflecting price increases for some commodities and the depreciation of the Australian dollar against many major currencies. Imports increased 3% by weight and 23% by value in the same period.

By value, the seaports of Melbourne ($47.7b in 2001-02), Sydney ($38.2b) and Brisbane ($18.3b), and Mascot Airport ($28.9b), were the largest ports, each handling substantial values of both exports and imports. Ports that handled the largest tonnage of international goods were the seaports of Newcastle, Hay Point and Port Hedland, which were each responsible for around 70m tonnes of trade (or 12-13% of total trade by weight). For these three seaports, 99% of trade was exports, particularly in raw minerals (coal and iron ore). Of the top 10 (sea)ports by weight, Port Walcott, Gladstone, Hay Point and Melbourne experienced the biggest increases in total trade by weight over the past three years, ranging between a 50% increase for Port Walcott to a 28% increase for Melbourne. In contrast, Kwinana fell 18%, driven down by a fall in both exports and imports.

A container port's TEU throughput is a proxy for port size and an indicator of economic activity at the port. Two of Australia's five container ports are large enough for inclusion in Cargo Systems' top 100 container ports for 2008. Melbourne is ranked number 51 and Sydney is ranked number 70. The majority of these ports are in countries sometimes referred to as 'end of shipping line' trading countries: The major exceptions are Singapore and Rotterdam (Netherlands) which are 'hubs' and different from Australian ports, but provide useful contrasts.

The number of ships visiting a port is an important external factor which determines trade volumes, shipping patterns, and indirectly, the productivity of a port terminal. Port level data on container vessel visits was not available for most overseas ports. Thus Figure 2 and Table 2 present the number of all commercial ships arriving at the ports included in this study. Australia's five container ports have less than the median number of ship visits of 6.2 thousand in 2005-06.

The ability to import and export energy in Australia is heavily dependant on the capacity of major ports. Australia has nine major coal exporting terminals located in New South Wales and Queensland. In 2007-08, these ports had a combined capacity of more than 330 million tonnes and loaded around 255 million tonnes of coal. Australian ports did not operate at capacity in 2007-08 for a number of reasons including the temporary closure of some capacity for expansion work and weather related incidents.

Infrastructure capacity constraints (including port and rail) have limited the Australian coal industry's ability to respond to growing global demand over the past few years. However, recent additions to capacity, together with more expansions planned over the short to medium term will help alleviate these constraints. As at October 2008, there were 11 coal infrastructure projects (including both port and rail) at an advanced stage of development with a combined capital cost of around $4.2 billion. The seven advanced port infrastructure projects will add a combined 116 million tonnes to annual capacity. There were a further 19 coal infrastructure projects at less advanced stages of planning.

Australia has 11 major deepwater ports which have facilities to export petroleum liquids. The ports at Fremantle and Dampier in Western Australia are Australia's largest exporting centres of oil and petroleum and gas, respectively. Australian exports of crude oil and condensate are increasingly sourced from the west coast, while exports of refined product are largely sourced from the east coast.