Major Port of Bundaberg project a step closer

By Aaron Goodwin, Bundaberg Today

Upgrades to open the Port of Bundaberg to more users and boost the local economy have taken another step forward.

The project, which is in the final stages of procurement and approvals, will involve building equipment to handle products other than raw sugar and help drive investment in the region.

The Sir Thomas Hiley Wharf will be upgraded with new conveyor belts and conveyor towers.

Tenders for its construction closed on 22 March and are in the process of being finalised.

Sugar Terminals Limited (STL) welcomed a further provisional $7.7 million funding boost from the Australian Government.

STL chairman Mark Gray said he was pleased to see the Federal Government increase its funding commitment for a joint project being progressed between STL and Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) under a project agreement signed by the Australian and Queensland Governments in October 2020.

The additional funding is provisional, pending a number of conditions being addressed by the parties.

“The Federal Government’s funding commitment to the project is now up to $17.7 million,” Mr Gray said.

”Together with additional funding already committed by GPC and STL, this gives us confidence that the project will stack up financially and can be delivered in the short term.

Mr Gray said the new infrastructure was crucial for the port’s long-term future and the region’s economic development.

”The port is certainly underutilised at the moment and that’s largely because it’s largely sugar infrastructure,” he said.

”The purpose of this project is to make multi-user infrastructure, so we can switch between sugar and other products.

”The economic benefits are to increase our exports out of the area, which will generate jobs.

”It’ll be significant stimulus for the port and the region.”

STL collects and exports sugar from the local mills, and other products, from their base on the Sir Thomas Hiley Wharf.

The John T Fisher Wharf isn’t in use and would need significant upgrading to be used.

They exported 206,000 tonnes of sugar, 40,000 tonnes of wood pellets, 9000 tonnes of molasses and imported 50,000 tonnes of gypsum, in the 2021 financial year.

Mr Gray said it had been as high as 300,000 to 350,000 tonnes of sugar in the past but that had dropped due to cane land being converted into other crops, like macadamias.

In December last year, the Australian Government invested $10 million under the Hinkler Regional Deal.

Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) and Sugar Terminals Limited (STL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2019 to expand cargo handling capabilities.

Tenders closed on 21 January.

Bundaberg MP Tom Smith was told there was strong interest in the common user infrastructure, which would help develop the Port of Bundaberg’s handling capabilities.

”The project is in its final stages of procurement and while that process is ongoing the costs remain commercial in confidence,” Mr Smith said.

”This Palaszczuk Government is proud to be funding this project along with the Commonwealth Government, Sugar Terminals Limited and Gladstone Ports Corporation.”