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The Port of Melbourne is Australia's largest port for containerised and general cargo. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria on the mouth of the Yarra River, which is at the head of Port Phillip Bay. It is owned by the Port of Melbourne Corporation, a statutory corporation owned by the State of Victoria. The majority of the port is in the suburb of West Melbourne and should not be confused with the Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne although Webb Dock, part of the Port of Melbourne, is in Port Melbourne. Port Melbourne (or Sandridge as it was known until 1884) was a busy port early in the history of Melbourne, but declined as a cargo port with the development of the Port of Melbourne in the late 19th century. It retains Melbourne's passenger terminal however, with cruise ships and ferries using Station Pier.

In the early days of Melbourne, large ships were unable to navigate the Yarra River so cargo destined for Melbourne was unloaded at either Hobsons Bay (now Williamstown) or Sandridge and transferred either by rail or by cargo lighter to warehouses which were concentrated around King Street. This was an expensive and inefficient process.

In 1877, Victoria's colonial government resolved to make the Yarra more navigable and engaged English engineer Sir John Coode to devise a solution. He decided to change the course of the river by cutting a canal to the south of the existing course of the river. This shortened it by a mile and made it much wider. It also created Coode Island, a name still used today although the northern course of the river has long since disappeared. Ships were now able to sail as far up the river as Queensbridge where a turning basin was constructed.

Coode also oversaw the construction of Victoria Dock in swampland to the west of the city. This opened in 1889.

Over time the docks moved progressively downstream as ships became larger and road bridges were built across the Yarra. The construction of the Spencer Street Bridge in 1928 and the Charles Grimes Bridge in 1975 each closed access to docks to the east. The barque Polly Woodside lying in the old Duke and Orr drydock and the warehouses of South Wharf are now the only reminders of the maritime history of this area.

Development slowed during the Great Depression and World War II but resumed after the war with construction of Appleton Dock (1956), Webb Dock (1960) at the mouth of the Yarra and Swanson Dock, the first container terminal, on what was Coode Island.

Eventually Victoria Dock became too small to handle large container ships and was closed. Its fate was permanently sealed by the construction of the Bolte Bridge, part of CityLink, across its entrance in 1999. It now forms the centrepiece of the Melbourne Docklands redevelopment.

In 1991 a large fire at the Coode Island bulk liquid handling facility blanketed much of Melbourne in toxic fumes. The public outrage forced the government to investigate relocating the facility. Point Lillias near Geelong was considered. However due to the high cost involved and local opposition the facility has remained at Coode Island.

The Port of Melbourne was also the scene of a watershed industrial battle in 1998 between Patrick Corporation and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

Recently further controversy has resulted from plans to dredge Port Phillip Bay to deepen shipping channels to allow larger ships into the Port of Melbourne. This process is expected to take up to a year to complete and will remove enough sand to construct a large island. Opposition to this project stems from potential environmental damage due to silting and loss of amenity for bayside residents due to the noise produced by the dredges.

In the future the Victorian Government will redevelop the Port of Melbourne to better integrate it with other modes of transport. The Melbourne wholesale fruit and vegetable market will be relocated to Epping and Footscray Road raised so that port users will have improved access to the rail facilities at South Dynon.

The Port of Melbourne is made up of the following:

• Swanson Dock West has four berths and is used for containerised cargo. It is managed by P&O Ports.
• Swanson Dock East has four berths and is used for containerised cargo. It is managed by Patrick Terminals.
• Appleton Dock berths B,C and D are used for general cargo. They are managed by P&O Ports.
• Appleton Dock E is used for general cargo destined for or from Tasmania.
• Appleton Dock F is used for bulk dry cargo.
• Maribyrnong (Coode Island) is a bulk liquid facility.
• Webb Dock West is a roll-on-roll-off facility for motor vehicles. It is managed by Toll Stevedores.
• Webb Dock East 1 is managed by Brambles for Tasmanian general cargo.
• Webb Dock East 2 is also for general Tasmanian cargo but managed by Patrick.
• Webb Dock East 3,4,5 are managed by Patrick for general and automotive cargo.
• Gellibrand Pier is operated by Mobil and has a direct pipeline to their refinery at Altona
• Holden Dock handles refined petroleum products.
• South Wharf berths 26 to 33 handle general cargo.

In 2004/5 approximately 3400 ships from 42 different lines called at the Port of Melbourne. The port handled 64.4 million tonnes of cargo, including a throughput of 1.9 million TEU or 20 foot container equivalents.

• Port of Melbourne website