Port Darwin


Port Darwin is the port in northern Australia. Darwin, Northern Territory has operated in a number of locations including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay and East Arm Wharf.

Stoke Hill Wharf

operated as the main location of Port Darwin, and has had three wharves.

East Arm Wharf

East Arm Wharf, opened in 2000. Panamax sized ships of a maximum length of 274 metres and a DWT of up to 80,000 tonnes are able to use the location.

Landbridge lease

In October 2015, the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group won the bid for a lease of Port Darwin. The then Country Liberal-controlled Northern Territory Government granted the company a 99-year lease for A$506 million. The contract price is more than 25 times the profit the port had earned over the preceding two years, and Landbridge also promised to invest A$200 million over a 25-year period.
Shandong Landbridge Group is a privately-held company with headquarters in the city of Rizhao, Shandong Province, China, which is owned by Ye Cheng, a billionaire with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Concern over the lease

Concern has been expressed over this leasing arrangement due its strategic significance as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Concerns have been expressed over the proximity of the port to a base where United States Marines are stationed on a rotational basis and to the international airport, which is used jointly for military and civilian purposes.
In June 2019, development of a port at Glyde Point, 40 kilometres north of Port Darwin, to be utilised by both military and commercial interests, was suggested as a 'counterbalance' by Federal Liberal Party MP and chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Andrew Hastie. In August 2019, a proposal was launched by Federal Labor MP Nick Champion to re-nationalise the port, thereby ending Chinese control.