The Port of Melbourne handled 291,000 TEUs of total container trade in April 2026, a year-on-year rise of 6.8 per cent, equivalent to 19,000 additional TEUs compared with the same month in 2025.
Full imports, excluding Bass Strait, accounted for 107,000 TEUs, edging up 1.3 per cent year-on-year, while full exports held broadly flat at 56,000 TEUs, up just 0.1 per cent.
Empty container movements were a notable driver of the monthly growth, rising 26.4 per cent year-on-year to reach 90,000 TEUs, an increase of 19,000 TEUs.
Bass Strait volumes grew 14.1 per cent to 21,000 TEUs. The one area of contraction was transhipment, which fell 20.8 per cent to 16,000 TEUs.
On a financial year-to-date basis, total container throughput reached 2.92 million TEUs, up 3.6 per cent, or 102,000 TEUs, compared with the prior corresponding period.
READ: Port of Melbourne handles 297,000 TEUs in March
Import volumes for the year to date stood at 1.166 million TEUs, up 3.3 per cent, while exports declined 1.2 per cent to 574,000 TEUs.
Empty containers for the financial year to date totalled 831,000 TEUs, a substantial 10.7 per cent increase year-on-year.
Non-container trade told a different story. Total volumes for April 2026 reached 2.16 million revenue tonnes, down 6.5 per cent year-on-year, a fall of 151,000 revenue tonnes against April 2025.
For the financial year to date, total non-container trade was broadly flat at 20.48 million revenue tonnes, down just 0.1 per cent year-on-year.
For more information:
Port of Melbourne – https://www.portofmelbourne.com/
