Flinders Port Holdings to develop 50-Year Masterplan for seven Ports in South Australia

Port owner and operator Flinders Port Holdings intends to develop a new 50-year masterplan to guide the short, medium and long-term development of the seven South Australian ports under its control, including the container terminal at Port Adelaide.

The Flinders Ports consortium acquired seven ports in 2001 under a 99-year lease after they were privatized by the South Australian Government.

The new masterplan is expected to be one of the “most complex and far-reaching” port development plans undertaken in Australia given that it will include multiple commodities across Port Adelaide, Port Pirie, Port Lincoln, Port Giles, Klein Point, Wallaroo and Thevenard, as well as several business streams within the group. These include Flinders Adelaide Container Terminal, Flinders Logistics, and Flinders Warehousing & Distribution and Flinders Ports.

The company has awarded the masterplan contract to international port planners, Black Quay Consulting, which will develop it over the next twelve months.

Although the project specifics are confidential at this stage, the study will include advanced strategic port planning to determine optimal uses for each of the ports and terminals and how the entire Flinders Ports network is best connected well into the long term based on international best practice, a representative of Black Quay Consulting told World Maritime News.

What is more, the study will focus on operational port planning and modeling, detailed trade forecasting, long-term fleet forecasting covering all vessel types as well as future state challenges and opportunities in the ports and maritime sector.

It will also include consideration of how the long-term masterplan would connect with freight transport initiatives beyond the port gates, environmental and energy factor determination and integration as well as development and consideration of multiple options on a pathway to develop the optimal plan for all Flinders Ports including cost analysis.

As explained, the project is expected to involve considerable stakeholder engagement alongside detailed operational and strategic port planning covering the management of containers, bulk, break bulk, general cargo, and the state’s growing cruise industry. The plan will also ensure that the ports further improve their environmental management as well as link better with wider state development plans.

‘”Master Planning is key to ensuring we are a long term, future focussed business. By planning ahead, we will continue to link South Australia to the world, whilst adding value to our shareholders and customers,” Stewart Lammin, CEO of Flinders Ports, commented.

Flinders Ports is in the midst of the Outer Harbor Channel Widening project that would enable Adelaide to welcome containerships and cruise ships with a maximum width of 49 meters without operational restrictions. At the end of September 2019, the port operator announced the completion of the dredging component of the project. Now that this part of the project is complete, the port operator would focus on the relocation of the navigation aids to mark the new channel width.