The emerging third stevedore at the Port of Melbourne has complained that the new private equity owner of Australia’s biggest container hub is “unduly focused” on legacy operators, who it claims are favoured when it comes to both rents and infrastructure investment.

In a combative submission to the Essential Service Commission’s Market Rent Inquiry, Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) delivered a compounding slate of criticism of post-privatisation operation of the port, where management is accused of concentrating on revenue flows at the expense of access and efficiency.