The Port of Melbourne’s (PoM) $125 million Port Rail Transformation Project (PRTP) will reduce truck movements, improve productivity and further enhance Australia’s premier port, the company said in its release. The total package of works under the PRTP is due for completion in 2023, but immediate benefits will result from ownership and management arrangements to be introduced at the Appleton and Victoria Dock rail terminals. The PRTP will see more containers moved by rail more efficiently, by-passing roads in inner Melbourne, via expanded common user and on-dock rail terminal capacity and improved rail terminal operation arrangements.
Port of Melbourne operates under a regulatory framework overseen by the Essential Services Commission that outlines how tariffs are set to recover the cost of port facilities and assets required to provide Prescribed Services. Prescribed Services are defined under section 49 of the Port Management Act 1995 (Vic) and include channel services, berthing services, short-term storage and cargo marshalling facility services and other services that allow access to, or use of, places or infrastructure (including wharves, slipways, gangways, roads and rail infrastructure)
In setting its prices for Prescribed Services, Port of Melbourne is required to comply with requirements in the Pricing Order – a regulatory instrument made by the Governor in Council under section 49A of the Port Management Act. Under the Pricing Order, tariffs are subject to an annual increase of no more than CPI on the 1st of July each year.
In order to fund the PRTP the Port of Melbourne intends that the Reference Tariff Schedule for the Financial Year commencing 1 July 2019 will be amended to increase the Prescribed Service Tariff for ‘Full – inward’ Wharfage Fees from $110.77 (GST-exclusive) to $120.52 (GST-exclusive) on and from the later of 1 April 2020 and the date of gazettal of the amendments to the Pricing Order.