FOLLOWING a seminar early in March a watch list has been created of the likely impacts on the container transport industry from the opening of Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel.
More than 230 people attended the seminar from across the broader container logistics spectrum, including shipping lines, importers and exporters, freight forwarders, empty container park operators, transport operators, suppliers to industry, the Port of Melbourne and government representatives.
The aim of the seminar was to ensure that all stakeholders in the container logistics sector began to understand what impacts will flow from the opening of the West Gate Tunnel.
A media release issued the Container Transport Alliance Australia, which organised the seminar, said that on a positive note, the tunnel would improve transit times to and from the west, provide a second crossing of the Yarra River, and give unimpeded access to and from the Port of Melbourne at higher gross mass for Higher Productivity Freight Vehicles (HPFVs).
“However, the tolling regime will impact markedly on heavy vehicle operating costs (including HV tolls for use of the WGT and the West Gate Bridge). Also, some container movements will involve increased travel times as many heavy vehicles will need to access the M1 instead of using local roads in the inner west to gain access to and from the Port of Melbourne,” the release said.
The CTAA, Transurban and the Victorian Government have agreed to keep a list of issues that can be logged and acted upon.
“One initial issue is the need for container transport operators to understand in greater detail how the off/on ramps from the WGT into and from the port will work in practice.”
For instance, the media release said the off ramp from the elevated section of Footscray Road into the intersection of Footscray Road and Appleton Dock Road had caused bottlenecks during WGT construction.
The release said it will be important for the intersection to work efficiently with light sequencing, etc, to ensure that it is not a chokepoint for heavy vehicle access to and from port facilities in the Swanson Precinct.
The efficient operation of the on/off ramps at Mackenzie Road, and traffic flow on the widened lanes of Wurundjeri Way (access to/from Webb Dock for HPFVs), will also be important to transport operators.
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