Port of Melbourne: New Appointments (Australia)

Minister for Ports Denis Napthine today announced three new appointments to the Port of Melbourne Corporation Board which is tasked to ensure the port can meet the future demands of increased trade.

“The Port of Melbourne had a record year in 2011-12 with increases across all cargo types and overall throughput of 87 million revenue tonnes. This includes 2.58 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container movements, increasing from 2.39 million TEU the previous year,” Dr Napthine said.

Dr Napthine said the new Directors Ingilby Dickson, John Fitzgerald and Bruce Nicholls were carefully selected and would provide valuable strategic input to the Board as it oversaw the $1.6 billion Port Capacity Project to create Australia’s premier automotive and container terminals.

“I am pleased to appoint Mr Dickson, Mr Fitzgerald and Mr Nicholls to the Board and am confident their diverse and complementing range of skills and expertise will assist decision making for port operations and the Port Capacity Project development,” Dr Napthine said.

“Delivering urgently needed capacity to accommodate growth now and into the future is the primary focus for the Port, it is critical for the sustainability of the sector and a priority project for Victoria. It is equally critical that we have the right people and the right level of expertise to drive this vision and ensure its success.

“Mr Dickson, who having long served the freight and logistics sector with senior roles at many key companies is currently working as General Manager of Supply Chain and Logistics at BlueScope Steel.

“Mr Fitzgerald has a wealth of experience in the financial sector having most recently worked as a Specialist Advisor at KPMG and prior to that as a Deputy Secretary with the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance.

“Mr Nicholls has a strong background in trade, foreign affairs and has been a Director and Chairman of various companies and other organisations. He has been an Australian Trade Commissioner with postings to India, Germany, Switzerland, China and Hong Kong and was also Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner in Hong Kong.

“These new appointments complete a well-rounded Board that will provide the organisational leadership required to maintain the Port of Melbourne as Australia’s largest container and general cargo port,” Dr Napthine said.

The new appointments are for a three year period and are part-time positions.

“I wish to express my appreciation to the outgoing members of the Board, Mr Des Powell, Ms Meredith Sussex and Mr Frank Williamson, who have provided many years of exceptional service and have overseen the Channel Deepening Project and more recently the Port Capacity Project,” Dr Napthine said.

“The new appointments continue to strengthen the Board to provide the leadership and vision to maintain the growth of the Port of Melbourne as Australia’s premier trading gateway. This is essential to safeguarding jobs and continuing to improve Victoria’s productivity and economic prosperity.”

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Press Release, December 13, 2012