Sydney Ports Corporation said on Wednesday Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd and Denmark's A.P. Moeller-Maersk Group were among a handful of companies showing interest in running an expanded Sydney container terminal.
"We haven't officially sent out any requests for expression of interests, but these are some of the companies that have come forward to say they are interested in operating if there is space for a third operator," said Kamini Parashar, a spokeswoman with the Sydney Ports Corporation.
A third logistic player would fuel competition in a market currently dominated by Britain's Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co and Australia's Patrick Corp.
With existing port facilities likely to reach capacity by 2010, Sydney Ports planned to expand its container terminal to cater for increases in trade for at least the next 20 years,
However, the proposal, which would involve reclaiming about 63 hectares (158 acres) of land to make way for five more shipping berths, has run into delays because of disagreements among stakeholders, and concerns over the project's impact on the environment and current inadequate rail facilities.
The project would also require government planning permissions.
ANL, a unit of French shipping firm CMA-CGM, has also shown interest.
Sydney Ports said it expected container trade at Sydney's Botany Bay, which handles virtually all container traffic in New South Wales state, to increase to more than 3 million container units by 2025 from the current 1.16 million.
Australia has seen a boom in container traffic growth recently, in part helped by strong commodity exports into China and healthy imports, supported by a robust local economy.