Asciano to invest $359m in Port Botany expansion
Australian infrastructure group Asciano will spend US$359 million on expanding its container terminal at Port Botany in New South Wales state, reported Dow Jones Newswires.
The expansion will boost annual capacity at the site to 1.6 million TEUs from 1.15 million TEUs currently.
The company, which said the redevelopment would lead to about 270 redundancies, pledged to redeploy as many workers as possible.
"The investment will deliver substantial returns from productivity improvements including significant cost savings," and would secure its stevedoring and logistics business at Port Botany until at least 2043, Asciano said. The redevelopment is scheduled to be completed in 2014.
Port Botany is located south of Sydney Harbour and its facilities account for more than 70 percent of Sydney Ports Corporation's total trade throughput.
The company said further development of the terminal would likely follow in stages, tracking expected growth in volume over the next three decades.
"Asciano has the flexibility to additionally increase capacity at the terminal beyond 2014 by introducing automatic stacking cranes expanding capacity by an additional 75 percent to 2.8 million TEUs per annum," it said.