With total infrastructure investment of more than $600 million over the past 25 years, the Port of Brisbane is a deep-water port providing container terminals and bulk cargo facilities for a diversified range of commodities over 31 berths and over 7,200 metres of quayline. The port has been identified as a major driver of economic development in Queensland and plays a significant role in promoting employment through its contribution to overall job creation.

Fisherman Islands is the centre of the port’s activities, providing integrated services including cargo-handling infrastructure, an interface between rail, road, and sea transport in the Brisbane Multimodal Terminal (BMT), and the Corporation’s offices.

Total trade through the port is currently around 23 million tonnes, and this is projected to increase to around 55 million tonnes by the year 2025. These projections require the Corporation to proactively plan and review its strategic direction to ensure that it achieves its vision for the future.

The Port of Brisbane is the gateway for cargo-carrying ships entering and leaving the booming region of South East Queensland.

The port's operations extend geographically from Caloundra to the southern tip of Moreton Island.

These limits formerly extended as far north as Russell Island, but were reduced in December 1997 to enable the Port of Brisbane Corporation to focus on its core business activities.

The Port of Brisbane is situated between latitude 26o 39' South and 27o 41' South and between longitude 153o 0' East and 153 o 30' East.

The Corporation is responsible for the management of the port and its operations within this area.

Cargo Berths

The Port of Brisbane has 28 berths and 6,510m of quay line.

• 7x Container Terminals
• 6x Oil (Crude & Refined)
• 1x Grain/woodchips
• 1x Grain/Dry Bulk/General Cargo
• 7x General Cargo
• 1x Clinker
• 1x Coal/Clinker
• 2x Chemicals/Fertilisers
• 1x Sugar
• 1x Wet Bulk

Depths

Alongside depths of general cargo berths are between 9.1m and 10.4m; container berths are 13m LAT (deepening to 14m); oil berths are from 13.4m to 14.3m; and Fisherman Islands grain and coal berths are 13m and 13.5m respectively.

Business partnering is a major component of the Corporation's customer focus. To implement this objective, strategic account managers have been appointed to specialise in the varied industries and users of the port.

Such industries include meat, rural (grain, cotton, fertiliser), chemical, manufacturing, retail, industrial, and mining and energy.

The Corporation offers a wide range of services for the efficient movement of cargo from the wharf to its ultimate destination. Movement of cargo by either rail or road is possible from Fisherman Islands, utilising a number of transport companies. Queensland Rail, National Rail and FreightCorp offer rail services for containerised and bulk commodities.

The Port of Brisbane is the only port that has unrestricted access to rail with a purpose-built bonded rail facility situated adjacent to the container terminals. Trains up to 900 metres long can be handled, and 1,500 metre trains will be able to be handled when required.


Commodities

As Australia’s second largest capital-city port in terms of tonnage and third largest container port, the Port of Brisbane handles a broad mix of commodities, which are shipped as bulk, break-bulk or containerised cargo.

Cement/Clinker

Brisbane features two major cement production facilities, QCL Ltd and Sunstate Cement Ltd; both of which play a vital part in supplying markets in South East Queensland, Northern NSW, and Central and Western Queensland. Imports of raw materials for the production of cement powder to supply requirements for both bagged and bulk cement are dependent upon infrastructure developments and local building needs in these regions.

State-of-the-art technology has been adopted by both Brisbane facilities to meet these production demands. As a result, they are capable of producing approximately 2.4 million tonnes of cement powder annually. In the 2000/2001 financial year, 1,076,963 tonnes of cement inputs were imported through the Port of Brisbane, making it the second largest imported commodity, surpassed only by oil.

Coal

In close proximity to the Port of Brisbane, thermal coal is mined from the Ebenezer, Jeebropilly, Oakleigh and Wilkie Creek collieries in the Ipswich, West Moreton and Surat Basin regions. The coal is transported by rail to the Queensland Bulk Handling facility on Fisherman Islands.

In 2000/2001 a total of 2,294,844 tonnes of coal was exported through the Port of Brisbane, predominantly destined for Japan. This accounted for almost 30% of total Major Non-Oil Exports passing through the port. Other export destinations included Hong Kong, the United States of America and New Caledonia.

Cotton

The Port of Brisbane is regarded as Australia’s number one cotton port. Servicing a number of significant growth regions, particularly in Northern NSW and South-East Queensland, Brisbane handles approximately 50% of Australia’s cotton exports. In 2000/2001, 421,491 tonnes of cotton and 414,246 tonnes of cotton seed were exported through Brisbane.

Working with industry participants, the Port of Brisbane Corporation identified the need for additional cotton storage in close proximity to both wharf and rail. As a result, Brisbane now has the capacity to store an additional 130,000 bales of cotton, which relieves both short- and long-term storage demand. Plans are also in place to expand this storage capacity by an additional 260,000 bales.

In addition, specialist facilities are also available for cotton derivatives, such as cotton seed. Three specialist enterprises have established close to bulk facilities on Fisherman Islands to service the needs of cotton-seed exporters. These facilities have undergone significant upgrade to provide more efficient and productive handling for exporters.

Fertilisers/Chemicals

The Port of Brisbane services a hinterland that supports both agricultural and mining sectors - industries traditionally reliant on chemicals. Cotton, grain, cereals, beef, pork and wool are just some of the rural enterprises trading through the port that rely on fertilisers and chemicals to maintain an economic edge in very competitive markets.

Brisbane is well serviced to supply the ever-increasing demand for rural inputs. Incitec, Summit and Pivot are three major suppliers of fertilisers shipped through the port, all of which maintain facilities in close proximity to the wharves. In 2000/2001, 248,164 tonnes of fertiliser were imported through the Port of Brisbane, along with 143,198 tonnes of rural chemicals.

Grain

Brisbane’s proximity to both traditional and expanding grain-producing regions has seen the development of facilities at the port capable of handling exports of up to 11 million tonnes of grain per annum. These facilities, although purpose-built for grain, are also able to handle a wide range of other products and materials.

Grain, and traditionally wheat, have contributed significantly to the prosperity of the regions supported by the Port of Brisbane. In the 2000/2001 financial year, grain accounted for 11.6% of total non-oil export trade through the port.

Iron and Steel

The last four years witnessed significant growth in Iron and Steel trade through the Port of Brisbane.

Scrap metal is sourced from South East Queensland and some northern regions for transport to Brisbane and export to a variety of destinations, including China, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea and Indonesia, where it is used as an input in the manufacture of steel. In 2000/2001, Iron and Steel Exports accounted for 3.7% of major non-oil exports.

Manufactured steel is imported through Brisbane from origins including South Korea, Japan, China and Malaysia to service the South East Queensland housing and construction industry. Despite a recent small decline in this trade, Iron and Steel imports remained the second largest non-oil import to the Port of Brisbane, behind Cement, with 6.2% of major non-oil imports.

Manufactured Goods

An extensive variety of manufactured goods are shipped through the Port of Brisbane. Industrial transformers, water valves, electrical switchgear, paper, refrigeration cabinets, furniture, explosives, pavers, iron components, and dispersion and food-processing units are just some of the goods to be shipped to markets in Asia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States of America.

Meat

Brisbane is Australia’s leading port for the export of meat products, shipping over 50% of Australia’s beef exports. The Port of Brisbane is Australia’s leading port in the export of beef, tallow, hides, and meat- and bone-meal.

In 2000/2001, exports derived from the meat and livestock industries were in excess of 1 million tonnes, with a value of almost $3 billion. Meat products and tallow combined to represent 10% of total major non-oil exports from the Port of Brisbane.

Major export markets include Japan, North America and South Korea, in which the Port of Brisbane holds significant market shares for Australian meat exports.

Meat product exports comprise chilled and frozen meats, and offal derived from beef, pork, sheep and lamb, goat, horse and game meat. Product is sourced from some of the largest meat-processing plants in Australia, which are located within 150 kilometres of the Port of Brisbane. Central and Northern Queensland producers also make use of the services and facilities available at the Port of Brisbane, including utilisation of the Brisbane Multimodal Terminal for fast and efficient rail transfer of export containers through the port.

Mineral Sands

A variety of mineral sands is handled at the Port of Brisbane, including silica sand, rutile, zircon and ilmenite. In the 2000/2001 financial year, silica sand was the predominant mineral sand export at 564,666 tonnes, which accounted for over 7% of total major non-oil exports through the port.

The Port of Brisbane exports mineral sands to Asian markets, including Japan and South Korea, and smaller amounts to New Zealand, India, the United States and Italy.

The sands are used as input components for a variety of finished products. Rutile, for example, is utilised in the aerospace industry, and also in the manufacture of paints, paper, plastic, cosmetics and surgical equipment. Zircon is used for glazes in the ceramics industry and to produce television screens.

Motor Vehicles

The Port of Brisbane Corporation is currently developing a state-of-the-art vehicle-processing precinct on Fisherman Islands to service the needs of the growing Brisbane vehicle trade. This precinct will allow for the eventual relocation of vehicle facilities currently located at Hamilton.

The precinct will offer the motor vehicle industry:

a a dedicated facility designed to reflect the quality issues associated with the trade
an an engineered environment that contributes to the care of customers’ vehicles
ready ready access to the national road and standard-gauge rail network from within the precinct
the the ability to rapidly expand capacity as required
The precinct will eventually occupy 80 hectares, with the potential to store In the 2000/2001 financial year, Transport Equipment and Motor Vehicles accounted for 220,942 tonnes (5.5%) of major non-oil imports through the Port of Brisbane, allowing Brisbane to maintain market share of approximately 25% of total Australian East Coast motor vehicle imports.

Oil

Oil is the major commodity shipped through the Port of Brisbane, with crude oil accounting for approximately 32% of trade in the 2000/2001 financial year and refined oil accounting for almost 16%. Imports are predominantly sourced from the Asian region, including Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Japan and North Korea, in addition to New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia. In return, refined petroleum products are exported through the Port of Brisbane to a number of these destinations, including New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and China, as well as Singapore.

There are two refineries operating out of the Brisbane region, BP at Bulwer Island and Caltex Australia Ltd at Lytton.

Retail

The retail industry encompasses a diverse range of products, such as agricultural equipment, electrical goods, paper, gifts and personal products, and foodstuffs (including dairy, seafood and processed products).

Retail is an important industry for the Port of Brisbane from both an import and export perspective. Export trade in dairy products, seafood and processed fruits and food is increasing every year.

Import movements of retail products continue to increase through the port, with future trade growth assured as a result of high population growth rates being recorded in both Northern NSW and Southern Queensland. Additionally, several product categories benefit from fast delivery times to southern destinations, particularly for companies that import from Southern Asia.

Woodchips

Woodchip exports through the Port of Brisbane at Fisherman Islands commenced in 1989 following the establishment of a world-class facility for the receival and storage of softwood chip. A grain loader and conveyor system is utilised to achieve a successful transfer of the woodchip from stockpile to ship.

Operator of the woodchip facility, Queensland Commodity Exports, has ensured future trade growth by establishing a relationship with a Japanese consortium to develop plantations to grow 10,000 hectares of hardwood timber for future woodchip exports.

In the 2000/2001 financial year, woodchip accounted for 277,338 tonnes of total exports through the port (3.5% of major non-oil exports).