While the NSW Budget handed down by the O’Farrell government contained no big surprises (only more commitment to road building), it has confirmed the government’s intention to privatise the Port of Newcastle.
Of the $700 million the government expects to receive for the 99-year lease, $340 million has been committed to the ‘revitalisation’ of Newcastle.
Long-time Newcastle container port campaigner Greg Cameron believes the government’s refusal to investigate the port’s potential is bad policy. Below is Mr Cameron’s response to the budget announcements.
New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell is unable to justify his government’s policy that there will be no container terminal at the Port of Newcastle.
Shipping containers are the standard form of distribution for goods worldwide. It is irrational for there to be no container terminal at the Port of Newcastle and it is irresponsible for the NSW government to lease Port facilities, including the former steelworks site, when that means there will never be a container terminal.
Private enterprise is willing to build a container terminal at Newcastle. Additionally, private enterprise is willing to build the critical freight rail by-pass of Newcastle.
Removing freight from the Newcastle rail system would allow for urban revitalisation, including:
- Transitway links along former rail corridors linking Belmont, Glendale, West Wallsend, Wallsend and University to Newcastle City Centre.
- Urban development opportunities to ecologically sustainable standards to support the usage of transport corridors and to create “value capture” benefits through integrated planning.
- Preparation of transport and economic models to demonstrate the regional, social and environmental benefits of stimulating freight flows through Newcastle and into northern NSW.
Modern container terminals are served by railways, which transport the containers to intermodal terminals, where they are lifted onto trucks for short distance haulage to warehouses and factories. A Newcastle container terminal would reduce traffic in the Port area. The concept of a Hunter Economic Zone would be re-born.
With a container terminal at Newcastle, the immediate benefits are lower transport costs and saved time. More importantly, economic growth in northern NSW would increase because a container port drives new supply chains, markets and infrastructure.
The NSW government’s opposition to a Newcastle container terminal has crippling economic implications for the Hunter and northern NSW for the rest of 21st century, including:
- Requiring imported goods to be trucked from Sydney.
- Requiring export goods to be trucked to Sydney.
- Discouraging exports from northern NSW because of inadequate access to a container terminal.
- Discouraging jobs in northern NSW because of inadequate access to a container terminal.
- Discouraging firms relocating from Sydney to northern NSW because of inadequate access to a container terminal
Whilst a container terminal at Newcastle offers profound economic benefits to Newcastle and northern NSW, there are even greater benefits for Sydney.
The NSW government intends to procure a land corridor in outer western Sydney for a road/rail by-pass. It would be possible to pay for the rail component of this by-pass by transporting containers between Newcastle and Eastern Creek. Financing would be provided by private enterprise. Every container transported on the freight rail line means one less container that is trucked from Port Botany. It would be possible to transport 100% of containers by rail between Newcastle and Sydney.
The NSW government is asking the Australian government to provide $4 billion, in present value terms, to upgrade the Main Northern Line between Sydney and Newcastle, to carry more freight. This $4 billion upgrade would not be required, obviously, when there is a freight rail by-pass of Newcastle and outer western Sydney.
The NSW government supports the proposed intermodal terminal at Moorebank in western Sydney. With container handling capacity of 1.2 million TEU, this terminal is too small and will be full as soon as it opens, around 2017, when there will be a net increase in the number of trucks carrying containers. Traffic congestion at Port Botany will be transferred to Moorebank as a result of the intermodal terminal. A better use for the Moorebank site is for a business park, as recommended by Liverpool City Council, over many years.
The NSW government supports an intermodal terminal being built at Eastern Creek. Eastern Creek is a better location for an intermodal terminal than Moorebank because it is closer to the main demand areas. It can be designed to handle 100% of container movements in Sydney for decades to come.
The NSW government would be able to use 100% of the Sydney metropolitan rail system for passenger services by removing freight. Economic productivity would be enhanced by at least $1 billion a year.
Greater productivity would be achieved at SydneyAirport by extending the second parallel runway to 4000 metres. This would be possible by relocating Port Botany container terminal operations to Newcastle after the Newcastle-Sydney freight rail by-pass was completed, around 2025.
A container terminal at Newcastle would significantly benefit NSW.
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