Industry bodies for freight and logistics have warned that money from leasing the Port of Melbourne must not be wasted.

It seems almost certain that a lease of some kind will be offered at the Port, with both major parties announcing plans to try to free up some extra funds.

Victorian Labor outlined its idea some months ago, which included offering a long-term lease on the Port of Melbourne to build up cash reserves that would fund the repair of dozens of level-crossing rail intersections.

The Victorian Coalition has now announced a similar, though clearly more conservative plan, offering a shorter lease with money to be spent on the tunnel and freeway East West Link project.

The Coalition would see the deepwater Port of Hastings eventually becoming the main Victorian container port, while Labor is says Bay West near Geelong would be a better option.

Either way, the Victorian Transport Association (VTA) and the Australian Logistics Council (ALC) want to make sure the money is spent carefully and intelligently.

“Our message is that the windfall revenues from the sale need to be invested wisely in infrastructure projects which benefit importers, exporters and the freight industry servicing the expanding port freight task,” VTA CEO Neil Chambers says.

“This includes appropriate road and rail infrastructure investments, including the full completion of the second crossing of the Yarra.”

The ALC says New South Wales may have a lesson for Victoria.

“Ensuring the funds are hypothecated to future infrastructure projects and not lost to consolidated revenue is needed to improve the productivity and efficiency of the freight logistics network,” ALC Managing Director Michael Kilgariff says.

“It also helps to engender greater community support for what is inevitably a tough political decision, but one which is in the best interests of the state.

“In this regard, we encourage the Government to follow the lead of the NSW Government, which is directing a bulk of the funds raised from the long term lease of Port Botany and Port Kembla to Restart NSW for future infrastructure projects.”

Both groups will have a chance to campaign more directly this month, when the VTA hosts Ports Minister David Hodgett at an industry lunch on March 19 and the ALC discusses recycling assets at its forum on March 19-20.