Port Expansion without Maldon Dombarton is flawed

The new owners of Port Kembla have asked the NSW Department of Planning to approve expansion of its Outer Harbour to increase the volume of bulk cargo from 4.25 to 16 million tonnes per annum. 

The Department's website

http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=6002

states that "All additional bulk cargo volumes would be transported by rail. "

That is an extra 11.75 million tonnes a year.  Yet, only in February 2014, this Department agreed with quarry operator Boral that it could not find extra capacity on the South Coast rail line for just half a million tonnes of quarry products. 

Approval was then given for the company to put extra heavy trucks on Mt Ousley and other roads.

In other words, our  rail network is supposed to find space on for an extra ten or more million tonnes a year of bulk freight, when it cannot even find enough space for an extra half a million tonnes of freight on rail.

The current application to expand Port Kembla notes three options:

1. more modern freight trains, 

2. making more use of the Unanderra to Moss Vale rail line,

3.  the option of completing the Maldon Dombarton rail link

However, more modern freight trains will not generate extra paths, and the line to Moss Vale has steep grades and extra distance to Sydney. This is a recipe for more loads on roads.

When earlier Port expansion was under review in 2010, the RTA  stated that if the predicted rail mode share could not be achieved, there would be likely,   "… unacceptable impacts to road safety and traffic  efficiency as well as environmental issues such as amenity, noise and  air quality."

The only realistic option is to complete the Maldon Dombarton rail link.

Work was started on this 35 km rail link in 1983 by the Wran Government and stopped in 1988, Since then, there are now a lot more freight and passenger trains on the line. At an expected cost of about $650 million, it is less than the $960 million for the  South Sydney Freight Line opened last year.

There is the question of who pays to complete the new link:  the State Government that started it, the Federal government who have sponsored ongoing to date studies and or the private sector. Completion of the line, one third built already, is much more likely to proceed if the State Government was to support the new railway.

Given the $790 million paid for the lease of Port Kembla and matching the $340 million committed from the NSW Government to Newcastle for the lease of their port, there is scope for some NSW funding. 

Port Kembla is to continue growing. Will the rail system and road cope? Will the Maldon Dombarton railway be completed ?

Port Kembla Outer Harbour Development


On exhibition until 7 May 2010

NSW Department of Planning MP 08-0249

Write a brief submission in response. This application to expand the Outer Harbour comes on top of the car carriers and lifting a curfew with permission for many more coal trucks on our roads.

If you consider that the NSW Government is putting the cart before the horse in seeking to further expand Port Kembla before a start of work on Maldon Dombarton and highway upgrades, then let the Department of Planning know. You may even want to contact your local State MP.

See the following story in the Illawarra Mercury:

Public to get a say on outer harbour plan

BY MATTHEW JONES

24 Mar, 2010 04:00 AM

A $600 million expansion of Port Kembla's outer harbour took a step forward as the NSW Government unveiled an environmental assessment and Port Kembla Port Corporation gained a new director yesterday.

Overlooking the port from its multimillion-dollar maritime centre, Minister for the Illawarra Paul McLeay and Wollongong MP Noreen Hay announced that the outer harbour development environmental assessment would be open for six weeks of public consultation from tomorrow.

The 3000-page document will be available at Wollongong and Warrawong libraries and on the NSW Planning and Port Kembla Port Corporation websites.

It includes detailed studies into road and rail movements, water and air quality, noise and cultural heritage as well as management plans for green and golden bell frogs and waste.

Mr McLeay said the six-week public consultation period, which is longer than usual, reflected the Government's desire to proceed carefully with developments at the port.

"We can't do this in isolation - it must be done right," he said.

Under the the port expansion plan, about 52ha of land will be reclaimed to create seven new berths, almost doubling the port's cargo handling capacity.

The new berths will be supported by container and multi-purpose terminals and enhanced rail and road infrastructure.

Mr McLeay and Ms Hay also congratulated Janine Cullen on her appointment to the board of the Port Kembla Port Corporation.

Ms Cullen is a familiar face in the Illawarra business community and holds directorships with the Illawarra Business Chamber, The Illawarra Connection and Greenacres Disability Services.

She said she was looking forward to hitting the ground running.

"The industrial heart of this city must never be forgotten," she said.