Bunge General Manager Chris Aucote said the company aims to develop a modern, low-cost, efficient and effective facility that would provide a competitive new export pathway for grains in southeastern Australia.

“The new terminal is intended to assist Bunge to offer better prices to grain growers and better service to customers,” Aucote said. “A competitive export supply chain is widely acknowledged as vital for Australia’s grain industry, as is additional capacity to service export markets at key times of the year, so our investment meets both aims. Bunge has recently commissioned a similar facility at Bunbury in Western Australia. Like Bunbury, we decided on Geelong due to the capabilities of its port, complementary infrastructure and good transport access for grain supply.”

Bunge said it has applied to the city of greater Geelong for planning permission to construct a grain receival facility and three storage silos that will connect to the current woodchip loader at Corio Quay North.

To be built on land owned by Midway Limited, the terminal will export around 450,000 tonnes per year.

“We have had very good cooperation from Midway and Geelong Port, highlighting this project’s great advantage of utilizing infrastructure that is already available, so we see this investment as being strongly positive,” Aucote said. “It will be a great business for the area as we estimate there will be up to 100 jobs created during the construction phase, with 8-10 permanent and five casual staff when the terminal becomes operational.

“The local benefits go wider, with services for additional ships visiting Geelong and additional grain transport that can then back-load with fertilizer or other products as required. We are now working through our plans with the City of Greater Geelong, the local community and wider grain industry, with construction intended to start later this year” he said.