THE Port of Melbourne has welcomed Saul Cannon, who has joined the port as its new CEO this week.

Mr Cannon comes to the port from Toll Group, where he was most recently the chief financial officer.

Mr Cannon has extensive experience in the transport, logistics, and infrastructure sectors having also held senior roles with Asciano and Telstra prior to joining Toll.

In a statement, the port said Mr Cannon would guide the organisation in the next stage of its growth and development, driving implementation of the Port Development Strategy. This includes the planned transformation of the port rail network and expanding the ports capacity to support Victoria’s ongoing economic and trade growth.

Mr Cannon will also continue our work to strengthen the port’s operational performance across asset and environmental management, occupational health and safety and quality management.

Mr Cannon started at Toll as chief strategy officer in January 2017 and moved into the CFO role two and a half years later, according to his LinkedIn profile. He spent nine years at Asciano, starting as group general counsel and group director commercial and legal, a role he held for seven years before becoming group director, strategy and corporate development.

Port of Melbourne also thanked retiring CEO Brendan Bourke for his leadership over the past five years. He joined the port as CEO in 2016 shortly after the 50-year port lease was awarded to the Port of Melbourne Group.

Since that time, Mr Bourke has led significant programs and projects, including the Port Development Strategy that outlines how the port will adapt and grow over the next 30 years.