NEWS DESK Shipping channels in Western Port may remain empty for years to come, according to a new options paper.
Flagging interest in port Continued from Page 1 Building a new port to “complement the Port of Melbourne and meet demand to import goods into Victoria” is seen as one of the options that “may have merit, but are either not well developed enough to undertake a full assessment or are sufficiently developed but have not yet been assessed against this need”. The paper addresses issues surrounding freight and traffic flows around the Port of Melbourne as well as the port’s capability to expand. The options paper suggests building a Port of Melbourne to metropolitan container shuttle “to move international containers … to hubs across the Melbourne metropolitan area”. Plans have previously been put forward for an “inland port” south of Dandenong as a distribution point for containers from the Port of Hastings. The options paper also suggests consideration “be given to building a Melbourne to Brisbane freight rail line, which would also link south-east Queensland with Perth and Adelaide (via Parkes)”.
The Port of Brisbane has undergone massive changes and freighting containers from there to Victoria could be cheaper than delivering them by ship. As reported in The News last week (“Hopes for port fading away” 17/5/16) Mornington MP David Morris said Ports Minister Luke Donellan had told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee in May last year that the government would “seek independent advice from Infrastructure Victoria about Bay West as an alternative site to Hastings for Victoria’s second container port”. “Twelve months on and Infrastructure Victoria has spilt the beans that it has not looked at options for Hastings, Bay West, or indeed any other major project in the state,” Mr Morris said. He said not referring development of a container port to Infrastructure Victoria “means that not only might the development of a container port [at Hastings] be delayed for decades, there is a real risk that the port will be relegated to bulk status, reduced to handling the sort of cargo not acceptable to other ports”.
Signed up: Some of those involved with producing the new sign on Marine Pde leading into Hastings, from left, David Garnock, Ray Francis, James McNeur, Angie Baker, Dirk Rynaard, Craig Rynaard, Bryan Stone, Chris Watt, Mark Birtles, Del Skinner, Ron Bange and Amanda Burston. Picture: Supplied
Sign shows the way to town NEW signs are now pointing the way into Hastings. Two years in the planning, the signs have created an “iconic” entrance to the town and “pinpoint Hastings as the main gateway to Western Port”, says Cr David Garnock. He said the signs were the result of a partnership between Mornington Peninsula Shire, Western Port Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Western Port Tourism Association.
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The project aimed to create a sign that captured the “essence” of what makes Hastings “such a great place to visit”. Cr Garnock said this included the need to highlight the “historically successful co-existence of heavy industry in a sensitive marine environment, and the strong community partnerships between industry, business, tourism and community that underpin this township's resilience and spirit”.
He also hoped the sign will “entice more day trippers to call in to Hastings to enjoy its magnificent parks, walking tracks and beautiful coastal scenery and to, of course, spend their money with our local businesses”. Using products from BlueScope Steel the sign was fabricated and installed by Westernport Signs, Western Port Laser Cutting, Hastings Steel and D & T Webster.
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