Trade performance

More detail for 2018-19
Total trade

Container trade

Non-container trade

Motor vehicles

Liquid bulk

Dry bulk

Total trade

Total trade through the Port of Melbourne increased by 2.2% over the previous financial year to 97.1 million revenue tonnes. Total imports increased 1.9% to 55.9 million revenue tonnes and total exports increased by 2.6% to 41.3 million revenue tonnes.

Overseas imports increased 1.7% to 44.7 million revenue tonnes and overseas exports increased by 3.0% to 30.9 million revenue tonnes.

Coastal imports increased by 2.7% to 11.1 million revenue tonnes while coastal exports gained 1.6% to 10.4 million revenue tonnes.

Container trade

Total container throughput exceeded 3 million TEU for the first time in a financial year, increasing 3.1% over 2017-18 to a total of 3.02 million TEU. Full container imports increased 2.2% while full container exports declined 5.7% as drought conditions impacted on several agricultural commodities. Empty container movements increased by 19.0% to 727,000 TEU.

New motor vehicles

New motor vehicle trade declined 10.0% in 2018-19 to 4.5 million tonnes, which equated to 312,446 units. Imports decreased 7.4% and exports decreased 32.9% following the first full financial year of trade after the closure of Toyota’s Altona manufacturing plant in October 2017.

Liquid bulk

Liquid bulk increased 4.4% to 6.5 million revenue tonnes (5.4 million mass tonnes). Together crude oil and petroleum product imports accounted for 85% of the total 2018-19 liquid bulk trade with crude oil the main commodity responsible for the annual gain.

Dry bulk

Dry bulk trade decreased 19.1% to 4.0 million revenue tonnes (4.0 million mass tonnes). Exports were entirely responsible for the annual decline with grain shipments down 94.3%. Imports increased 6.4% to 4.0 million revenue tonnes due to higher volumes of cement and gypsum along with several shipments of drought relief grain and stock feed.