New Vic container terminal means 200 jobs

Two hundred Victorian jobs will be created by the development of a new international container terminal at the Port of Melbourne, the state government says.

Ports Minister David Hodgett on Friday announced a contract had been awarded to a consortium to provide a third stevedoring option for port users in Victoria.

"The delivery of additional container capacity through this new terminal will greatly assist in meeting the demands of trade growth," Mr Hodgett said.

The new terminal at Webb Dock will handle more than one million standard containers each year.

Mr Hodgett said the operator, Victoria International Container Terminal Ltd, would concentrate on promoting off-peak truck movements to improve the efficiency of the state's transport logistics.

Work on the terminal is expected to start later this year for completion late in 2016.