Napthine outlines freight vision for Melbourne From: Australian Financial Review By: Mathew Dunckley Date: 14 August 2013

Premier Denis Napthine says the freight and logistics sector generates $19 billion to $23 billion for the state economy each year and supports thousands of jobs .

Moving freight out of inner Melbourne to allow the development of the inner-city and service new ports are at the heart of the Victorian government’s freshly minted freight strategy.

Premier Denis Napthine released the strategy, The Freight State , on Tuesday afternoon and revealed plans for a new dedicated rail freight link in the state’s east.

The strategy also reiterated the government’s commitment to developing a new container port at Hastings, the expansion of Webb Dock at the Port of Melbourne and to several major road and rail projects.

Most of the new projects, with the exception of Webb Dock and East West Link, are unfunded at this stage.

Transport Minister Terry Mulder said the strategy would see freight activities gradually moved from down town Melbourne.

“These new links will also support the progressive decentralisation of heavy freight activities away from the central city area to the periphery of Melbourne, freeing land for redevelopment opportunities in inner areas,’’ he said.

“Another priority within Victoria – The Freight State will be to develop the South East Rail Link (SERL) proposal, which would provide a dedicated rail freight link between Dandenong and Dynon, opening up huge potential for export businesses in Eastern Victoria.”

Dr Napthine said the freight and logistics sector generated $19 billion to $23 billion for the state economy each year and supported thousands of jobs.

“Victoria truly is the freight and logistics capital of Australia. The Port of Melbourne is the nation’s largest container and general cargo port while the Port of Geelong and Port of Portland also delivered record trade figures in 2011-12,” Dr Napthine said.

“Growing our competitive edge in freight is critical to Victoria’s economy. The Coalition government understands that having access to an efficient freight network is absolutely vital for businesses and jobs that rely on exporting and importing their products.

The opposition and some industry groups and leaders have questioned the government’s choice of Hastings arguing that a new port to the city’s west could better take advantage of existing infrastructure.

Australian Logistics Council managing director Michael Kilgariff said containerised import and exports for Victoria were set to almost quadruple by 2050. “The plan recognises that the logistics industry is increasingly dealing with goods that have been imported, rather than manufactured locally, which is consistent with trends elsewhere in Australia,” he said.

Mr Kilgariff said the government’s plan included a renewed focus on investment in infrastructure to improve freight productivity.

“The plan commits the government to a transport network and rail link to connect the Port of Hastings to the regional and national freight network,” he said.

“While recognising that Hastings does have some issues from a land-side logistics perspective, the government has spelt out how it intends to deal with those under the [plan].

“It is therefore imperative that this strategy gives confidence to industry that, while remaining flexible, it underpins decisions across the life of many governments.”