Mr Nick Whitlam chairman of Port Kembla Port Corporation has foreshadowed the transformation of the south of Sydney facility at a cost of about USD 1.2 billion to alleviate bottlenecks in the State's other ports.

Once completed, it will end the current hold on Sydney port handling by Patrick Stevedores and Dubai Ports. Recently released government estimates put the cost of what is termed the Port Kembla Outer Harbor Master Plan expansion at USD 600 million with a further USD 600 million expected from private sources to be spent on infrastructure.

Three of the world's major shipping operators, Hutchison Port Holdings Maersk and Costgo are reported as indicating they may lease container terminals at Port Kembla.

Port Kembla is one of a trio of international facilities centered on exports and imports in New South Wales. Its expansion plans follow the USD 2 billion recently spent upgrading Queensland's Dalrymple Bay and Gladstone ports whose activities centre on coking coal.
PKOHM's immediate targets include dredging 50 hectares of Port Kembla, building a container terminal to handle up to 3 million TEU per annum and completing a part abandoned rail line to boost the transportation of the port's coal capacity.

Mr Whitlam's other target is reportedly to extend Port Kembla's current focus on bulk commodities, coal and steel servicing to embrace the recently removed car-import facility from Sydney. This would see it handling all car imports into the State of New South Wales.