Premier Ted Baillieu said the figures supported the government's decision to approve a A$1.6bn ($1.65m) major expansion of the port including the development of a third container terminal and a purpose built automotive facility at Webb Dock.

Baillieu said the 2011-12 financial year total port trade grew to 87m revenue tonnes, up from 79.7m revenue tonnes in the previous year.

“This includes a 7.8% increase in total container throughput with the port of Melbourne handling 2.58m teu last year, smashing the previous year's record of 2.39m teu,” he said.

Stephen Bradford, chief executive of Port of Melbourne, said the port is handling more than one million extra containers each year that it did a decade ago, equivalent to 7,000 containers a day on average.

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source: seatrade-asia