PORT of Townsville’s Berth 4 container and general cargo facility is officially open for business after a $40.7m upgrade was completed.

The project has added 2m tonnes per year to the berth’s capacity and delivers a 20% increase on total port tonnage throughput.

Port of Townsville CEO Ranee Crosby said it was wonderful to see the berth in use, enabling more containers, cars and cattle to move through the port.

“This latest investment is part of a program of works to ensure international shipping lines have reliable and efficient berth access, giving our customers have efficient infrastructure to handle their cargoes,” she said.

“The next step will be a $27.3m investment into state-of-the-art cranes and cargo handling infrastructure at Berth 4, which will commence this year.”

Queensland transport and minister Mark Bailey said as Northern Australia’s largest general cargo and container port, works like these were vital.

“This investment is a sign of confidence in growth, and reflects the important role this priority port will play in servicing Townsville and North Queensland,” he said.