Waterford's port authority is to be incorporated, becoming the country's ninth State port company by the end of the year, the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, has announced.

Opening a new bulk terminal at Belview Port, outside the city, Dr Woods unveiled a multi-million-pound package to underpin the future of the port, which has been fighting back from the major commercial reverse caused by the collapse of Bell Lines last year.

The Government has agreed to fund more than £6 million in interest charges, in respect of an existing State-guaranteed European Investment Bank loan, over the next five years.

The Exchequer is also to underwrite the port authority's pension fund over the next ten years.

A steering committee is being established, to report by September on measures needed to put Waterford Port on the same footing, in terms of corporate structure, as the other strategic ports by January 1st, 1999.

Dr Woods also undertook to seek funding for the dredging of the outer sandbar in the Suir estuary, which at present limits tidal access for larger vessels. The general manager of Waterford Harbour Commissioners, Mr John Clancy, said that this work will effectively open the tidal window into the port to allow larger access.

The Minister announced a significant initiative on the need for ports operating in the same estuary or catchment area to co-operate more closely.

Some £35 million in State and EU money has been invested since 1992 in the development of Waterford Port. In the industrial zone around Belview, about £50 million of private investment has taken place.

The setback caused by the liquidation of Bell Lines last July, coming on top of losses resulting from storm damage to a strategic crane, placed Waterford Port in severe financial difficulty, as the capital and interest payments due on an EIB loan amounted to £1.3 millon per annum.

A loan insurance policy was called on in order to meet last year's payments, and the State has now taken over the interest burden.

Meanwhile, at least five new carriers have moved into the port and its business is recovering, with some 36,000 containers expected to be handled this year.

The development of facilities at Belview is supported by both the Cohesion Fund and the Structural Funds of the EU, with grant aid amounting to some £11 million, of which over £3 million from the cohesion Fund has gone toward the purpose-built, 150-metre quay opened yesterday, along with a new access road and railway overbridge.