A NEW empty container park at Port Botany should help ease truck processing congestion, the Container Transport Alliance of Australia believes.
The new park, announced this week, is on NSW Ports land and leased by Tyne Container Services.
CTAA director Neil Chambers said the announcement was positive.
“For some time now, the landside container logistics sector has been concerned with a shrinking of empty container management capacity in NSW, which has contributed to some truck processing congestion at the remaining facilities,” Mr Chambers said.
“It is great news that capacity has been added in the Port Botany precinct, and we look forward to its operation.”
Mr Chambers noted there were still issues to overcome.
“When the Sydney Gateway road connection project is built, empty container management capacity will be impacted in St. Peters. So, we are keen to ensure that remaining capacity is bolstered by improved interface efficiencies,” he said.
“One of the clear lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is that container logistics, along with other freight services, is essential, and we must continue to find ways to build container supply chain resilience and productivity in the future.”
Mr Chambers said the NSW government and Transport for NSW needed to tackle “archaic processes” in processing container truck arrivals at empty container parks, with processes hampered by a lack of information provision and visibility.
The CTAA has suggested a range of measures to improve the supply chain:
- Shipping lines providing electronic messaging in advance on empty import container de-hire instructions (100% of the time)
- Shipping lines working with empty container park providers to improve information provision on suitable export container stock availability against valid export booking releases
- Greater information visibility and data sharing on empty container de-hire re-directions
- Transport operators and drivers embracing further technology applications in-cab and change management
ECP operators promote paperless processing, forklift allocation and improved truck turn time velocity.
