Flinders Ports manages seven of South Australia's ten privately owned ports and is the state's largest port operator.
Facilities and services
Its ports directly access the waters of the Great Australian Bight, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent. It was founded as a consortium in 2001 and won the right to run the ports of Port Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Thevenard, Port Giles, Wallaroo and Klein Point for 99 years in November 2001. Flinders Ports' services include pilotage, mooring, launch services, port infrastructure, shipping infrastructure management, land infrastructure management, surveying and marine control. The consortium serves many South Australian industries including agriculture, forestry, mining and manufacturing. Through partnership with the South Australian Tourism Commission, Flinders Ports is also encouraging the development of South Australia as a destination for cruise ships. Flinders Ports has also worked on supply chain solutions to move mineral exports from mine to market to service South Australia's mineral resources sector. Most of Flinders Ports' facilities are equipped to handle bulk and break-bulk cargoes and all ports have transport links available by road, rail or both.
Corporate structure
Flinders Ports is a wholly owned subsidiary of Flinders Port Holdings Pty Ltd - the holding company for the group’s ports, port management, logistics, container terminal, property, and Spencer Gulf Marine Services businesses. The shareholding of Flinders Port Holdings is structured as follows:
Development
In recent years, Flinders Ports has benefited from and helped to facilitate the expansion of South Australia's mining sector. In 2009, a dedicated bulk minerals export precinct was established at Berth 29, Port Adelaide. Exports of mineral sands, zinc concentrates, copper concentrates, sulphur and fertilisers/phosphate rock were initially catered for. Iron ore was first exported from the precinct from IMX Resources' Cairn Hill mine in December 2010. Flinders Ports also developed 25,000 square metres of hard stand to accommodate the storage and handling of mineral sands. Mineral sands exporters include Cristal Mining.
Flinders Ports sees the mineral resource sector as an opportunity for future growth. Leading a proposal to construct the Port Bonython Bulk Commodities Export Facility at Port Bonython is a key part of Flinders Ports growth strategy. In 2011, the proposal involved the development of a facility with a 25 million tonne per annum export capacity. It would use a conveyor that would be able to carry 4,000 tonnes of cargo per hour from adjacent storage facilities. The project represented an AU$700 million investment. Flinders Ports CEO Vincent Tremaine was hoping to have an operating port at Port Bonython in 2015. In 2012, the project received Major Project Status from the South Australian state government, and an expanded export capacity of 50 million tonnes per annum was announced. The project timeline was also revised to suggest that the port would not be completed until 2016. An Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed facility was published in October 2013.
Fuel imports
Completion of a new $22.5 million common user fuel berth and import facility at Outer Harbor, Port Adelaide was scheduled for March 2014. It has been designed to accommodate both MR and LR class vessels.
Sponsorship
Flinders Ports has sponsored the Channel 9 Young Achievers Awards' Environment Award since 2011. The inaugural winner was 15-year-old Kaitlin Taylor of Kangaroo Island and the 2012 winner was Adam Kilpatrick from the University of Adelaide. The award was won by climate change campaigner Daniel Spencer in 2013 and Giant Australian cuttlefish researcher Sarah Catalano in 2014. Flinders Port Holdings is the Major Partner of Port Adelaide's Port Festival. The event is a weekend-long celebration of seafaring history, local arts, seafood, river recreation and the world's only inner-city dolphin pod. Flinders Ports is a major partner of the South Australian Maritime Museum. The partnership supports education programs including tours of the Outer Harbor container terminal, free admission to the museum on community access days and sponsorship of the museum's exhibition program. Industry and trade sponsorship includes the Adelaide Freight Industry Annual Golf Day and Dinner and Mining SA. Other community sponsorship includes: Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club, AMWRRO, Flinders Park Tennis Club, West Torrens Baseball, Port Adelaide Athletic Club, Portland Junior / Senior Football Club, Ceduna Oyster Festival, Largs Bay Sailing Club / Regatta, Port Augusta Sailing Club, Ceduna Racing Club, Lincoln Triathlon Club, Tunarama, Cora Barclay, Bicycles for Humanity, Christmas Party for Special Children, Rotary Club of Port Adelaide, Western Futures, Semaphore Street Fair and North Haven Surf Life Saving.
