On the one hand, the Port Kembla Port Corporation in its Special Feature "Your Port" in The Advertiser for Wednesday 29 June states in an article RAIL PLANNING ON TRACK that studies are underway to assist its vision including "…to encourage modal shift where practical from road to rail."
The very next day, the Illawarra Mercury carries an advertisement from the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure considering an application from Graincorp Operations Limited to modify a consent to allow the receiving of grain at Port Kembla by road 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and to remove the restricted annual tonnage limit. Which incidentally is 200,000 tonnes per annum.
SEE Illawarra Mercury Page 1 for Friday 1 July PORT WANTS TRUCKS 24/7
It is not only 24/7 trucking that is wanted but also the option for more heavy trucks ... perhaps many more big trucks on our roads.
HAVE YOUR SAY - QUICKLY
Wollongong's main roads to Port Kembla have no shortage of coal trucks on public roads, over five million tonnes per annum. No other city in Australia has so much coal on rail. On top of that, there are the car imports which at present all are going by road - despite a consent condition stating that 20 per cent are supposed to leave the port by rail.
Now comes a proposal to have NO LIMIT on the amount of grain trucks arriving at Port Kembla.
Although most grain arrives by rail at Port Kembla, in recent years, the condition of many grain lines in Western and South Western NSW have been allowed to run down, thus increasing an incentive to use more trucks.
The NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure this time around has only given 14 days to respond.
The full "environmental assessment" is at
http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=4628
The Department invites submissions. What do you think ?
