One thing at least is clear: if Melbourne wants to retain its status as Australia's No.1 destination for container trade, the city will need a new port in the not-too-distant future. The question is where.
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The Department of Transport reckons the Port of Melbourne will hit what it calls ''effective'' capacity by 2022 and ''absolute'' capacity by 2027.
Premier Denis Napthine - something of a ports aficionado - is adamant that Hastings in the east is the best option. Labor, which favoured Hastings when in government, is now backing a plan to develop a new terminal in an area near Werribee known as Bay West.
In an unusually strongly worded briefing document prepared last year, the department said it had reached the ''clear conclusion'' that the Bay West option was not realistic. The briefing document will give Napthine a potent weapon to use against Labor's plan, which has also been backed by influential figures in the transport and logistics sector.
But Hastings, too, is not without its problems. As the department notes, providing the necessary transport links to the east would be ''relatively challenging'', particularly in terms of rail access. Unlike the Bay West option, the capacity of Hastings is also limited. At some point - probably not that long after about 2050 - Hastings would be likely to also run out of space.
That means Bay West would probably need to be built anyway, a point that Napthine has previously acknowledged. It is the politics that has Napthine worried. Labor has been spruiking the Bay West option as a major job creation plan for the politically crucial Geelong area, which has been buffeted by job losses.
Labor is not only desperate to hold marginal seats in the west, it will need to win back the seat of South Barwon if it has any hope of forming government.
In these areas, concerns about employment are likely to trump any worries about the environment associated with developing a major new container port.
On the other hand, the potential political gains for the Coalition from the Hastings option are less obvious. Arguably, the project may create job opportunities in marginal electorates such as Frankston, which is held by independent Geoff Shaw, and the Labor marginal seat of Cranbourne.
