Modifications to be sought in talks with state authorities as Blacktown Council backs bigger trucks
Road Freight NSW (RFNSW) is calling for a number of key modifications to the current trial which allows more productive heavy vehicles, using the Port Botany terminals, on to the greater-Sydney metropolitan road network.
After a limited trial involving select carriers, all operators using the Performance Based Standards (PBS) 2B scheme, can now apply to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) for an access permit for the transportation of containers in and out of the port.
Currently, approved trucks and their combinations can only utilise select PBS road networks.
RFNSW says the use of the PBS scheme has proven to be highly effective in improving efficiencies in the freight supply chain for its members.
With planning now underway for the next stage of the trial, RFNSW will hold talks with Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), Transport for NSW, NSW Ports and other industry stakeholders at a meeting at Port Botany tomorrow.
RFNSW general manager Simon O’Hara says it was an important opportunity for RFNSW to engage with government decision makers and table a number of issues raised by its member companies currently using PBS vehicles on the Sydney road network.
“We are pleased that the trial is allowing PBS 2B carriers transporting containers in and out of the port to achieve higher levels of productivity, whilst adhering to stringent safety and infrastructure standards,” O’Hara says.
“RFNSW has over 65 per cent of members at Port Botany landside operations, which is why we now need to advocate on their behalf for modifications to the trial.”
The changes sought include:
- examination of weights
- extending access arrangements and hours of operations for PBS 2B vehicles to and from Port Botany
- expanding PBS 2B access on the Sydney road network.
O’Hara thanks RMS, Transport for NSW, NSW Ports and the other industry stakeholders who will take part in the roundtable, saying it allows trucking companies the chance to play a role in shaping the next steps of the PBS 2B trial.
The use of larger combinations east of the Newell Highway was given air last month with the ABC reporting online Blacktown City Council’s western Sydney take in its submission to the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy (NFSCS).
Noting that half of Port Botany’s containers go elsewhere in Sydney, Blacktown’s submission recommends the provision of funds “for the upgrade of road infrastructure to employment lands to remove access constraints to the operation of high productivity vehicles, including B-triple trucks”.
Other Blacktown recommendations include development and funding of a 20-year road and rail infrastructure plan for Western Sydney to improve road and rail access and freight movement to Blacktown and Western Sydney.
It also wants urgent action to protect and reserve key road and rail transport corridors serving Blacktown and Western Sydney, including:
- Outer Sydney Orbital (OSO) with access to Marsden Park Business Park
- North West Metro extension to Marsden Park and St Marys
- Fast express east west from Western Sydney Airport to Sydney with a new station in Blacktown
- Western Sydney Airport Rail Line (Option 2, Map 7)
- Western Sydney Freight Line
- Western Sydney Fuel Pipeline
- two new north south rail lines with duplication of the Richmond Rail Line, new east west light rail and rapid bus connections (Map 7)
- Castlereagh Freeway- M7 to Kurrajong with a link to Marsden Business Park
- Werrington Arterial Road Stage 2 link Great Western Highway to Castlereagh Freeway.