THE government-funded freight advisory committee given the task of recommending ways to make the cost of Bass Strait shipping cheaper is expected to stop short of naming a principal port.
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The Freight and Logistics Co-ordination Team will meet on Monday to finalise its report before handing it to the state government.
While consultants for the committee found Tasmania had too many commercial seaports resulting in poor efficiency, the committee is unlikely to recommend downgrading any of the three main ports in Burnie, Devonport and Bell Bay.
Tasports is also working on a strategic plan that is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Instead, Steve Henty, of the Tasmanian Logistics Committee, said the industry did not expect any major changes.
``The best solution is to maximise the utilisation of our existing port system,'' Mr Henty said.
However, he said the key was to avoid duplication with Burnie to specialise in containers and Bell Bay to deal with the bulk of commodities such as woodchips and coal.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday that the Coalition government was close to announcing the start of a joint investigation into improving the Bass Strait freight arrangements to be conducted by the Productivity Commission and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The Freight and Logistics Co-ordination Team report is expected to be publicly released soon after it is handed to the government.
Mr Henty warned the report would not contain any ``silver bullets''.
Consultants have found the cost of shipping goods across Bass Strait is 24 per cent higher than other comparable short sea routes, due to higher labour costs and fuel, and there is insufficient demand for a weekly direct international shipping service.
