Port Kembla freight off the rails

By Nicole Hasham
Updated November 6 2012 - 2:04am, first published April 18 2011 - 11:07am
Port Kembla's car receival depot.
Port Kembla's car receival depot.

Not a single tonne of rail freight has left the Port Kembla cargo handling facility since it opened in 2007, prompting questions over how the region's congested roads will absorb future port expansion.The revelation has triggered a demand from the Greens that the port should be prevented from expanding until it can guarantee more goods will be moved by rail.A report obtained by the Mercury shows Port Kembla Port Corporation failed to meet a State Government target that, by the end of 2010, at least 20 per cent of freight would move to and from the site by rail. It showed that since the facility began operating in 2007, every tonne of cargo has been trucked out of the site.Insufficient trade volumes meant rail transport was not viable and a regular train service could not be justified, the report found.Cars made up the bulk of freight, followed by general cargo including machinery, steel, timber and fertilisers.The Planning Department set the rail target as part of its 2006 approval of the facility. It was designed to limit road traffic impacts from the $140million expansion.The report showed 187 trucks per day moved almost 850,000 tonnes of cargo in 2009-10, almost 90 per cent of which were imports.The port corporation noted it had carried out rail upgrade works and lobbied for extra rail infrastructure, and rail remained a key mode of transport for coal, grain and mineral concentrate at Port Kembla.But the news will add to growing disquiet over the ability of the region’s road links to cope with the weight of freight traffic generated by the outer harbour expansion.Preliminary work on the $600million project began this year. It will almost double the port’s cargo handling capacity.As the Mercury reported last October, an RTA submission on the expansion raised concern that predicted rail freight volumes could not be achieved, which would likely lead to “unacceptable impacts to road safety and traffic efficiency, as well as environmental issues such as amenity, noise and air quality”.A RailCorp submission noted the proposal’s lack of detail on long-term infrastructure impacts.Greens spokesman George Takacs said the failure to meet the rail target was disappointing.“PKPC [Port Kembla Port Corporation] should not be allowed to undergo any further expansion until it can be clearly demonstrated that the infrastructure exists to enable freight by rail, and the nature of the goods being freighted is amenable to rail,” he said.He questioned the port corporation’s explanation for not meeting the target, saying “either the reasons are not valid, or PKPC obtained approval by deception by pretending they could meet goals they never had any intention of meeting.”A PKPC spokeswoman said the figures provided in support of the cargo facility application were the best forecasts available.She said the outer harbour expansion has undergone significant planning approvals, which included consultation with the community.A Planning Department spokesman said future applications to expand the port must demonstrate that adequate rail infrastructure is in place, or will be provided in a timely manner. The port corporation must also prepare a rail master plan before embarking on future stages of the work, he said.The corporation did not directly manage the movement of cargo, and constraints on rail transport had largely been beyond its control, he said.Australian Amalgamated Terminals and Patrick Autocare are the cargo facility’s main tenants.

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