May 17, 2012, Jake Saulwick  courtesy of Sydney Morning Herald  Bound for Botany Bay:Planning chief says more motorways needed

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox with Jeffrey Smart’s prophetic 1973 painting “Truck approaching a City”, NSW Art Gallery.

THE man charged with drawing up a 20-year plan for the state’s infrastructure has provided a stark vision of what is needed: more motorways to allow the efficient movement of goods around Sydney’s port and across the city.

Speaking at a forum at the Opera House yesterday, the chief executive of Infrastructure NSW, Paul Broad, gave the clearest description yet of the approach he is taking.

”We at Infrastructure NSW are unashamedly about the economics of NSW,” Mr Broad said. ”For us, it is all about productivity, it is all about how we grow. Infrastructure for infrastructure’s sake goes nowhere. And unfortunately, we are littered around Sydney with infrastructure that goes nowhere.”

Infrastructure NSW chief executive … Paul Broad. Photo: Tamara Voninski

In September Mr Broad will hand his 20-year plan to the Premier, Barry O’Farrell. As he explained it, that strategy will depict Sydney as a service economy, whose future would be secured by how smoothly goods move through its borders.

”The M4 finishing at Parramatta Road is silly. The M5 dumping people around the airport is silly. You have to finish the motorways in Sydney to make it work … the economics only comes when you complete it.”

Mr Broad cited Roger Fletcher, a fellow Infrastructure NSW board member who exports lamb from Dubbo.

”For every dollar it takes him to take meat from Dubbo to Singapore, 80¢ goes from Dubbo to Botany. Give me a break. He’s supposed to stay competitive.

”We have to unblock the freight and economics of the state to sustain our competitive advantage.”

Doing so would require lifting Port Botany’s cap from 3.2 million containers a year to 7.5 million containers a year. The containers will need somewhere to go.

”Of that 7.5 million containers, 5 million will still be on trucks, 2.5 million will be on trains. Five million on trucks to be delivered within a 50-kilometre radius of Botany. They have to do so in a way that’s economic to sustain us.”

But the city’s people would need different mobility. Mr Broad said he refused to travel to work in peak hour. So would the workers of the future. ”Twenty-year-olds are not as stupid as us: they will change. We are building infrastructure for them, not for us.”

It remains unclear how Mr Broad’s plan will mesh with a Transport for NSW masterplan under development, and the aspirations projected onto it in hundreds of submissions and in community forums. He was speaking at the Parramatta Economic Development Forum, at which Parramatta Council pledged $1 million for a report on western Sydney light rail.

”A lot of people are pitching for infrastructure, a lot of self-interest is at play, and there is no lacking in reports,” he said.

“We will not get containers in Newcastle,” Mr Broad said in a recent interview. “There’s about 3 million containers come into Sydney a year now and it will be about 7.5 million in 10 years’ time.”  (Note photo of Sydney Ports graphic at Port Botany where 10 year prediction is 3.2million TEU)

The expansion of Port Botany was approved with an overall cap of 3.2 million TEU.  DP World and Patrick currently handle just over 2 million TEU annually (that’s twenty foot equivalent so the actual number of containers is lower).  If Mr Broad is suggesting 7.5 million containers that could be closer to 10 million TEU.  There seems to be no change in direction since Michael Egan’s submission to the Commission of Inquiry in 2004.  The officer whose name appeared on that submission is still head of transport and ports in Treasury (see below for submission).

Newcastle port plan on the shelf

Sydney Morning Herald 9/5/12:  Brian Robins

THE Infrastructure NSW chief executive Paul Broad’s declaration that Newcastle will not be developed as a container port has cut across comments by the Premier, Barry O’Farrell, as well as plans held by the coalmining entrepreneur, Nathan Tinkler. After being blocked from pursuing plans to build a coal loader at the port, Mr Tinkler outlined plans for a container port, which has now run into difficulties. Under state planning guidelines, Newcastle was to be developed to handle an increasing volume of the state’s container traffic, especially as Port Botany approaches capacity. Port Botany is in the middle of a $1 billion expansion with the development of the third terminal, which paves the way for the entrance of the Hong Kong ports group Hutchison. This expansion is to begin operation from 2013.

As well, Asciano is adding a berth at its Patrick container facility at the port, which will give its throughput a further boost. While the state’s car imports have been shifted from Glebe Island, in Sydney’s centre, to Port Kembla, the state government has long viewed Newcastle as the location for the next container port, including the proposal in planning documents from at least 2008. However, in recent comments Mr Broad has backed away from this particular commitment.

“We will not get containers in Newcastle,” Mr Broad said in a recent interview. “There’s about 3 million containers come into Sydney a year now and it will be about 7.5 million in 10 years’ time.”

A spokeswoman for Mr Broad said Infrastructure NSW, which has been established last year by the Coalition government, said the intention was to focus on the development of the coal export chain in Newcastle. “[Mr Broad] is emphasising the importance … of the coal chain,” the spokeswoman said. Read the rest of this entry »

Patrick have signed a new lease agreement with Sydney Ports which will see a 40% increase in quay line and a doubling of capacity to 2.5million TEU.  There will be 4 berths to accommodate Panamax vessels.

The Conditions of Consent for the Port Expansion set overall port capacity at 3.2 million TEU.  The Environmental Impact Statement which included traffic modelling was based on this volume.  DP and Patrick already handle over 2 million TEU between them so to keep within the 3.2million DP will need to scale back to 700,000 TEU and there will be nothing left for the new operator Hutchison aka Sydney International Container Terminals Ltd.

MEDIA RELEASE (Asciano)

Date: 3 May 2012

Patrick Stevedores and Sydney Ports Corporation sign new lease and development agreements for expansion of Patrick’s Port Botany Container Terminal Asciano and Sydney Ports Corporation are pleased to announce that Patrick Stevedores has signed commercial agreements for the development and expansion of Patrick’s Container Terminal at Port Botany.

Once Patrick has met its development obligations, Patrick will increase its footprint at Port Botany by 39 per cent through the development of an integrated Container Terminal which comprises both its existing Container Terminal and the adjoining 17.6 hectare site, called the Knuckle. Read the rest of this entry »

Hosting the World’s Busiest Port – Shanghai

“This is a rare and fantastic opportunity to secure the founding co-naming sponsorship with this ground-breaking sporting venture. GreenEDGE is the first Australian team at this level and it offers Orica a powerful sports marketing platform, perfectly aligned with our values and drivers.”  Ian Smith CEO Orica Link to video of launch 

UPDATE:  8/5/12 – Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) won the third stage of the Giro d’Italia by several wheel lengths from JJ Haedo (Saxo Bank) in second and Taylor Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) in third.
Photograph:Graham Watson

On the 28th of April, the Cooks River in Sydney, suffering from a plague of plastic bottle pollution, was host to the return of Captain Cook who met with federal environment minister, Tony Burke. The Captain was greeted by locals who collect thousands of bottles and cans every month in an effort to clean up the river. Their message was we need a container deposits scheme (CDS). Tony Burke agreed! See the ABC TV News report. This is the first time a federal environment minister has said he supports a CDS. He confirmed that the coming state and federal meeting of environment ministers was crucial and that other states needed to join with South Australia and the Northern Territory so we could have a national CDS. However we are not resting as we have to make sure that all states do agree. No doubt the beverage industry led by Coca Cola will be lobbying furiously to stop an agreement. This will mean a big effort by us in five states. In the next month we will be writing to ask you to contact your local MP and environment minister in a concerted push just before the meeting. In the meantime we really need your donation.* To mount five state campaigns in a short time is a big ask! Donate here We have never before, been this close to a positive decision on a CDS.
Jeff Angel
National Convenor of the Boomerang Alliance
30 April 2012
www.boomerangalliance.org.au