Intermodal transport hubs are the answer to mitigating growing community frustration over trucks clogging Melbourne’s streets, says the state’s peak transport body.
In its latest draft 30-year port development strategy, released last month, the Port of Melbourne lamented the lack of progress on moving freight to trains in the state, particularly around Melbourne.
But Victorian Transport Association CEO Peter Anderson said the right plans are in place, such as the $183 million Port Rail Shuttle Project – they just need more private backing to get off the ground.
“One of the things we have to do is put more freight on rail, that’s really the trick,” said Anderson who would have preferred the to see the Western Interstate Freight Terminal in the warehouse-dense Truganina built first.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-road. The more freight on rail, the more freight on road. It just means that the trucks will be used differently than what they’re currently being used for now.
“So, they won’t do as many kilometres, but trains don’t deliver – ships, trains and planes, carry freight, but only trucks deliver.
“There’s always going to be freight on trucks, it’s just a matter of how far the trucks are going to go.”
To achieve the right middle ground, Anderson said it’s all about “intermodal harmonisation”.
“So how do we get it off road, onto rail and back on road in a reasonable time and in an efficient way?
“At the moment we can’t do it. The intermodal rail process is too slow.”
Anderson said he’s hoping the new intermodal terminals at Beveridge and Somerton will deliver the solution and attract more freight onto rail.
Anderson said the conversion of the old Footscray fruit market site into an intermodal terminal will also help.
“Once that’s in place our port rail shuttle will have somewhere to go and be a lot more effective.”
The site could also accommodate container stacks that could be easily shuttled to the port when required, rather than being driven “thousands and thousands of kilometres like what happens now”.
“These are the sort of things we should be looking at going forward, but are the people who make these decisions looking at that?
“Can we coordinate the strategy of the Port of Melbourne with the strategy of the Department of Transport and Planning?”
“We need to harmonise our intermodal processes more, but we need to understand that the investment will come from private enterprise, not just government.
“We can’t just look at the government and say, ‘Give it all to me’, no private enterprise is going to have to do some of this as well.”
Reports say that the rise in the number of trucks around the port is partly due to the rapid growth at Webb Dock, the only container terminal at the port with no rail access.
Neil Chambers, the head of peak sector body, Container Transport Alliance Australia, said Webb Dock is the future for containerisation growth in the Port of Melbourne.
“Simply because we’ve almost maxed out with the size of container vessels that can safely navigate the Yarra River and under the West Gate Bridge to access the international container terminals at West & East Swanson Dock,” Chambers said.
As result, he said, as projected container trade growth goes from the current 3.3 million Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEU), to 3.92 million TEU by 2030; 4.43 million TEU by 2035; 4.98 million TEU by 2040; and around 7.1 million TEU by 2055, most of that growth will need to be handled through expanded /new container terminals built at Webb Dock.
Chambers said the ‘elephant in the room’ is that Webb Dock is only accessible by truck, with no rail connection, and it will cost billions to build one.
“Crossing the Yarra River is the tricky part. Trains don’t like going up or down hills, or via steep bridges, so it might need to be a low rail bridge adjacent to the Bolte Bridge or an even more expensive tunnel under the Yarra River between the rail connections into the port in the northwest and Webb Dock to the south.”
With significant urban development in the Docklands and Fisherman’s Bend areas adjacent to Webb Dock and the inherent restrictions on the Bolte and the West Gate Bridges, Chambers said the Victorian Government has also set up the road industry for potential failure.
“How long before the good residents of Docklands in their million-dollar apartments or in the increasingly gentrified Fisherman’s Bend area begin to complain bitterly about HPFVs rumbling past them 24/7 with containers onboard every couple of minutes?”