Potential as company’s fourth maritime terminal depends on study and assessment
Aggressive transport fuels firm Puma Energy has bought land at the Victorian port of Hastings with a view to creating an import facility there.
Three years after entering the Australian market, the move, if approved, will be one of its biggest infrastructure investments in this country.
“Puma Energy can confirm we have purchased eight hectares of land on Bayview Road, Hastings,” a spokesperson for the company tells ATN.
“This site has the potential to become a fuel import terminal, however we are in the very early stages of a feasibility study and will not be able to confirm the site’s use until this assessment has been completed.”
Until now, Puma has focused on building its retail portfolio and other supply-chain priorities, though it does have marine terminals in Brisbane, Mackay and Townsville.
But such a plan will not be without its challenges and uncertainties.
Quite a short drive, Bayview Road is already home to a Bluescope Steel facility and an Esso tank farm with adjacent wharf.
Local media reports the company has been in talks with the Port of Hastings Development Authority (PHDA), the body that was driving the Liberal/National coalition project to make Hastings Melbourne’s second port.
Having had bipartisan support until the lead-up to the last state election, the Hastings option remains coalition policy and may become state government policy if there is a change of government.