Qld gears up for direct shipping services to PNG

CAIRNS and far north Queensland businesses are being asked to register their interests for direct shipping services to Port Moresby to meet the demands of PNG’s multi-billion kina gas development projects.
The Cairns Chamber of Commerce and a newly-set up development agency, Advance Cairns, have already led a mission to Port Moresby last November on a feasibility study to set up a direct shipping link between PNG and the region’s biggest and closest port to PNG – Cairns port.
While supplies to PNG and major operations like Ok Tedi, Porgera, Lihir, Hidden Valley and Ramu were at present sourced out of Townsville and Brisbane, Cairns businesses were adamant they were better placed to supply to PNG and cut back consignment delays by at least a week.
Advance Cairns chief executive officer Ross Contarino told ABC radio at the weekend: “There are no direct services, so we are now looking at what sort of capacity there is in this region to export.
“So one of the things we are doing is asking local business if they are interested in having a direct service and if they have produce that they like to have shipped from here to register that interest, then we can talk to some of the shipping companies.”
Contarino said businesses and primary producers in the far north need better export services to feed the big gas projects like PNG LNG which has begun construction works for production in 2014.