The Port of Melbourne will be leased to private interests for 50 years to raise billions of dollars to fund transport projects, under legislation before the Victorian Parliament.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has released details of the legislation introduced to the Parliament for the port's proposed privatisation.

The Port of Melbourne is Australia's busiest container port, visited by more than 3,000 ships each year.

The Victorian Government expects to reap $5 billion to $6 billion from selling the long-term lease, much of which will be spent on its election pledge to get rid of dangerous railway level crossings.

The privatisation would also make Victoria eligible for millions of dollars under the Federal Government's asset recycling scheme.

But if the State Government decided to build a second container terminal at Hastings, Bay West or elsewhere before the Port of Melbourne reached capacity, it would be liable for a compensation payout.

Victorian Opposition spokesman Michael O'Brien criticised the proposal, saying it effectively "kills off" the prospect of a second container terminal in or near Melbourne for half a century.

"We had the port of Hastings being developed alongside the Port of Melbourne, Labor now proposes to effectively kill that off," he said.

"They want to give the new owners of the Port of Melbourne a 50-year monopoly over a very important public asset.

"This is really about Labor potentially sacrificing the interests of Victorians for the next 50 years in order to make a quick buck."

But Mr Pallas said he did not believe a second port would be built before Port of Melbourne reached capacity, "given the amount of time that would be required to actually establish and develop a port".

Compensation would not need to be paid if a second port was built after the Port of Melbourne had reached capacity.

Greens will not support privatisation of port

The Government needs the support of the Opposition to pass the legislation in the Upper House.

The Coalition was in favour of a 30 to 40-year lease.

Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber said his party would not support the port's privatisation because the leaseholder would have a monopoly.

"That's a real worry if you're an exporter through the port," Mr Barber said.

"You could be a farmer, you could be a manufacturer, you don't know what this is going to do to your costs.

"The incentive for the Government is to make it as big a monopoly as they can, because they'll get a better sale price.

"This is probably our last piece of really critical economic and transport infrastructure and I can't believe we'd be putting it in some private company's hands."

Mr Pallas said annual tariff increases would be capped at CPI for at least 15 years "to protect Victorian producers, manufacturers, other exporters and importers, and consumers".

"The lease will make our port even better, increasing efficiencies and competitiveness, reinforcing Victoria's position as the freight and logistics capital of Australia," he said.

Stevedoring companies are embroiled in a dispute with the port authority over a rent hike of almost 800 per cent, but Mr Pallas said he did not think that would deter investors.

Victorian Farmers Federation spokesman Peter Hunt said he was concerned the legislation excluded rents.

"Our concern is what the Port of Melbourne Corporation is already doing, is clearly fattening the pig for sale in readiness for privatisation with these massive rental increases," he said.

Mr Hunt said rural Victoria would not get a fair share of proceeds from the sale.

"The Port of Melbourne was built on the back of food and fibre exports, yet the estimated $5 billion in revenue the Government will generate from that is going straight to removing level crossings in Melbourne.

"Not one cent of it from what we see is going to regional Victoria."

The lease is only for the port's commercial business, so the Government would remain the landowner and retain responsibility for safety and environmental regulations.