Riverina-based dangerous goods (DG) tanker truckie Kerryn Woods fears for driver and public safety unless the long-running parking issues at Port Botany are finally resolved.
Woods, a board member of the National Road Freighters Association (NRFA), said Transport for NSW had identified the Sydney port’s Truck Marshalling Area as a place for long-distance DG drivers to park and rest, if required.
But he said a mysterious clause in the development application (DA) excludes DG drivers.
Woods said that despite an unofficial endorsement he received from the NSW EPA for DG drivers to use the facility, their fate is tangled again in a complex web of red tape pending a new and costly DA reapplication.
Meanwhile, he said drivers are forced to either risk parking on site and being targeted by port security or take their chances on the nearby streets which can result in hefty fines from local councils.
Earlier this month Woods visited another terminal at the port to find a sternly worded warning notice to truckies from “the Port Botany team” stuck to the office window.
“It has been observed that several vehicles associated with various carriers and contractors have been parking along the shoulder of Friendship Road, despite clear signage indicating this is a No Parking area,” said the warning.
“This practice poses a significant safety risk to all road users and has caused a near miss in the past.”
The notice added that a recent CCTV review by NSW Ports security had recorded 194 “illegal” parking incidents between June 4 and July 4, 2025.
“This volume of non-compliance is unacceptable, and we must act decisively to ensure safety for all.
“Non-compliance may result in subsequent actions.”
Woods said they’re toothless threats because security can’t issue fines or stop a truck from entering the port.
But after he copped a recent $140 council fine for parking in nearby Military Road during a seven-hour break, he’s decided to go public, penning an open letter about the safety issues that he hopes will get picked up by mainstream media.
“What would the general public think if they knew that potentially heavy vehicles loaded to the gunnels with high consequence dangerous goods with possibly very tired drivers were mixing it with them in the traffic or passing through their suburbs just trying to find somewhere safe to rest and abide by the laws designed to protect both them and the general public,” Woods writes.
“Can you imagine Ma and Pa Kettle and the general public getting wind of that?” he later told Big Rigs.
“It’ll scare the living shit out of them. Every time they see a tanker, they’ll turn off.”
Woods said the potential danger is only exacerbated by the fact DG vehicles are also not allowed to travel through tunnels, the quickest exit routes from the port.
“So, we’ve got to go through the thriving mega metropolis, hub of the universe Bexley, which is a commercial area with heavy traffic and metropolitan roads – and we’re tired because we can’t find anywhere to park up.”
A frustrated Woods said parking for long-distance DG operators has been an issue at the port for the last 3.5 years since no stopping and no standing signs were erected as a result of queuing issues in and out of the fuel terminals.
“No one could move, it was absolute checkmate and the terminals complained to the ports, saying ‘Hey, if we’d had an emergency at one of the terminals, the emergency services couldn’t get in because the place was gridlocked’.”
But Woods is adamant the parking woes for drivers now shouldn’t be this hard to find an interim fix while the DA issues are being sorted out.
“Swallow your pride a little bit and let us park either in the port, or give us somewhere to park, that’s all we want.
“Mark a couple of DG parking only squares in the port where we can park, where we’re not hindering anybody, and if you’re in the square, you’re safe.
“We’ve got drivers now with 36-metre A-doubles, where do they go now? They can’t go wandering around the back streets, so they just go ‘stuff it’, I’m just going to park in the port and put up with the consequences.”
Woods said he won’t park himself inside the port because he doesn’t like getting woken up by a security guard banging on his door while he’s trying to sleep.
“But I’ve said to them, what’s going to happen one day, one night – they’re going to knock on the wrong door and some driver who doesn’t really want to be there but he’s got to be because he’s delayed, or over his book, he’s going to come barreling out that door with a lump of four by two.”
Woods said the proposed $80 million Eastern Creek mega site announced earlier this year is too far away in the heavy Sydney traffic to be a solution.
That site is also still stuck in the planning stages, according to a TfNSW spokesperson, with no word yet on a likely opening date.
“Once design and environmental approvals are complete, the project will move into construction,” the spokesperson said.
Road Freight NSW CEO Simon O’Hara said DG parking at Port Botany needs to be a “high consideration” for terminals to ensure that truckies can adhere to rest requirements and get goods to where they need to go.
“It seems perverse that truckies who are doing the right thing by parking up and resting, then get a fine for their efforts,” O’Hara said.
“I strongly encourage TfNSW and NSW Ports to work on a solution for hard working truckies that restores some dignity and respect.”
TfNSW said it is aware of the issue relating to DG parking at Port Botany.
“Transport for NSW is committed to supporting the safe, sustainable and productive movement of goods and is working with relevant stakeholders to support a solution to the issue,” a spokesperson said.
“The National Transport Commission is also currently reviewing the Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road & Rail, which sets out the requirements for transporting dangerous good by road or rail.”