Thousands of trucks will be forced to travel across Melbourne from the western suburbs if the state government goes ahead with its plan to build the city’s second container port at Hastings, according to industry experts.
Victoria University’s Institute for Supply Chain and Logistics (ISCL), made up of academics and industry experts, released a report last week, revealing that 70 per cent of state and national freight will have to travel from the western suburbs to reach Hastings.
The report also said that almost half of all import and export containers passing through the Port of Melbourne originated in, or were destined for, businesses between Altona and Laverton in the west and Hume in the north.
Launching the report at a Committee for Wyndham lunch in Point Cook last Wednesday, ISCL chair Dr Hermione Parsons said it was time for the Liberal and Labor parties to look at alternatives to Hastings.
The ISCL and the Committee for Wyndham will lobby both parties in the coming months, asking them to look at their options.
Dr Parsons said one alternative could be a port to the west of the Port of Melbourne.
“If a significant proportion of the businesses currently established to the west of Melbourne’s central business district remain in their current locations, the potential freight transportation impact could be significant,” she said.
“When the Port of Hastings reaches its capacity of nine million containers, as planned, in 2050 . . . it could potentially involve the movement of 4.5 million containers to and from Melbourne’s main western industrial district.
“This would require over 4000 trucks or 140 trains moving across Melbourne’s road and rail network between Melbourne’s industrial west and north, and Hastings, daily.”
Dr Parsons said transport companies would face significant costs if they tried to move so many containers an extra 100 kilometres on increasingly congested roads. The cost would likely be passed on to consumers.
“Our exporters need to compete in international markets and they can’t if they have to wiggle their way across Melbourne,” she said.
