TasPorts chairman retires after nine years with search already underway for replacement

The search for a new TasPorts chairman is on after the man in the job for nine years announced his retirement today. What happened:

TasPorts Chairman Stephen Bradford at the TT-Line enquiry at Parliament House, Hobart on Monday 12th August 2024. Picture: Linda Higginson

TasPorts chairman Stephen Bradford has announced his retirement amid ongoing controversies surrounding the state’s port infrastructure and battle for new passenger ferries.

“Yesterday I advised the Premier that I will retire after nine fulfilling years,” Mr Bradford said in a statement after tabling TasPorts annual report.

The statement said a replacement recruitment process was underway.

Mr Bradford spent a decade running the Port of Melbourne as the CEO, and was the director of the Napier Port Corporation and the chairman of Cruise Down Under before moving to Tasports nine years ago.

Stephen Bradford chairman TasPorts. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

He faced a short parliamentary inquiry process into TasPorts in August of this year.

The retirement comes just after Hobart resecured its status as the gateway to Antarctica with the announcement of $188 million in wharf upgrades to redevelop the crumbling Macquarie Wharf 6 to accommodate the icebreaker Nuyina.