Tenders invited for third terminal operator

Five companies and groups have been invited to tender to operate the third container terminal at Port Botany, Sydney Ports CEO Grant Gilfillan has announced.

Mr Gilfillan said the invitation is the second part of a two stage process for selecting the terminal operator, part of the Port Botany Expansion project.

He said thirteen operators responded to the call for Expressions of Interest which was issued on 1 July this year and closed on 1 September.

“The healthy response indicates there is strong industry confidence in the long-term commercial viability of Sydney’s container port,” Mr Gilfillan said.

“Those who expressed interest in operating the terminal included existing local operators, local consortia, overseas operators and overseas consortia.

The applicants were asked to provide information about their financial and resource capacity; container terminal expertise and experience; and capacity to resource and manage the new terminal.

“The five invited to proceed to the next stage include domestic and international operators.

"We regard the process as commercially confidential and will not be announcing the names of those who have been invited to tender.

“We expect the stevedore to be chosen by mid-2009 with the first berths available for trade from 2012,” Mr Gilfillan said.

Mr Gilfillan, along with the Chairman of Sydney Ports Corporation, Paul Binsted, thanked all parties who had submitted an expression of interest.