Port of Melbourne market rent inquiry 2025

The Port of Melbourne and its tenants use contracts to set property rents for port of Melbourne land.

This is our second five-yearly inquiry on the Port of Melbourne's process for setting land rents. It involves assessing whether the port's rent-setting process negatively affects consumers.

Our inquiry will assess the setting and reviewing of land rents at the Port of Melbourne over the period 1 November 2019 to 31 October 2024.

Read more about our role in administering the Port of Melbourne regulatory regime. 

The inquiry will consider whether the Port of Melbourne has:

• market power in relation to the process for setting and reviewing land rents
• exercised market power in a way that causes material detriment to Victorian consumers.

If we find there has been a misuse of market power, we may make recommendations on possible economic regulation to the Essential Services Commission Minister. 

As part of the inquiry, we will consider the:

• process used to set and review land rents
• Port of Melbourne’s compliance with this process
• extent to which the land rents paid are ultimately passed through to Victorian consumers.

Feedback on our scope and process paper

We invited feedback from stakeholders on our scope and process paper between 1 October and 14 November 2024.

Consultation is now closed with our final report expected to be published in late April 2025.

Online public forum

On 7 November 2024, we held an online forum to provide stakeholders with information on our inquiry and opportunities to ask questions. 

View the forum recording below.

Confidential drop-in sessions

We hosted a number of confidential drop-in sessions for stakeholders to meet with us and provide feedback directly on Tuesday 12 November and Thursday 14 November 2024.

Got a question?

Contact us for more information.