NSW Ports lease deal will see rail firm shift from Yennora
Aurizon aims to have a binding lease and terminal operator agreement for the Enfield Intermodal Logistics Centre (ILC) signed in the coming quarter.
The expectation follows a ‘heads of agreement’ signed with NSW Ports that the rail firm hopes will allow it to accelerate its intermodal freight growth plans once it relocates its intermodal terminal operations from Yennora in March.
While Aurizon will lease land and warehousing, NSW Ports underlines the facility will remain open access for Port Botany import and export (IMEX) containers.
“Enfield will enable the creation of a new Aurizon intermodal hub in Western Sydney with greater competitiveness, productivity and safety,” Aurizon executive vice president commercial and marketing Mauro Neves says.
“The Enfield site is far superior to Yennora in terms of its location and on-site logistics, and will provide the platform for an improved service offering for new and existing customers.
“It will support longer trains, improve scheduling and cycle times, and reduce train shunting.
“It will also allow faster transit time on the Melbourne, Brisbane and north Queensland corridors and an opportunity to target increased volumes for both north-south and east-west interstate operations.”
Close to the M4 and M5 motorways, the 60 ha Enfield ILC is described as a ‘turn-key’ site located 18 km from Port Botany on a dedicated freight line and with direct access to the interstate mainline corridor.
The site includes an intermodal terminal, warehousing and buildings with vacant land for the development of rail related warehousing, freight forwarding, IMEX, transport and distribution facilities.
“The intermodal operations will support warehouses located within the ILC and in the surrounding catchment – with the first on-site warehouse development to be for Swift Transport, one of the largest wharf carriers in Port Botany,” NSW Ports interim CEO Marika Calfas says.
“Aurizon’s growth aspirations align with our strategy to build and develop a sustainable container supply chain within NSW, including a focus on increasing the rail mode share of containers to and from Port Botany.”
NSW Ports launched its Navigating the Future 30-year master plan in October that sees container volumes more than tripling in the next 30 years and re-emphasising the need to increase Port Botany container rail movement.
“Our goal is for three million TEU per year to be transported by rail by 2045,” Calfas says.
“Crucial to the achievement of this goal is the creation of additional intermodal terminal capacity in metropolitan Sydney.
“The Enfield Intermodal Logistics Centre will be part of this solution, becoming an inland extension to Port Botany.”
Though Enfield will be capped at 300,000 TEU, it is ‘ready to go’ and NSW authorties are keen to have it operating as soon as possible to help ease Port Botany congestion.
The Enfield relocation will allow Aurizon to develop an IMEX business and provide a suitable and immediate solution for the interstate business while the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal is being developed in Sydney’s east.
Aurizon sees the Enfield move as complementary to the much larger Moorebank terminal that it is a 33 per cent junior partner in with Qube as it “provides choices for customers and services”.
The announcement comes on the back of Aurizon recently adding 175 new wagons into its national intermodal operations, a commitment for a new intermodal terminal in Townsville and the introduction of a new freight management technology to improve customer service and grow the business.