In another disruption to the transport and freight industry, tracks around Port Botany will shut down for maintenance upgrades
In an additional strain on road transport operators, the Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) have received confirmation that the track maintenance shutdown work will happen at Port Botany.
According to the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), the work will take place between Friday February 3 and Wednesday February 8, impacting Port Botany operations.
The FTA and APSA both say that the track between Flemington Junction and Cooks River (including Meeks Road, which is the connection to the Illawarra line) is closed between Saturday February 4 until Monday February 6.
This means regional exporters and importers will be forced to stage containers via rail to metropolitan intermodal terminals with secondary road movements to and from the terminals.
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This will add pressure onto operators to obtain available vehicle booking system slots in an environment where many are facing difficulties to find qualified drivers and meet existing demand.
As well as double-handling staging requirements, the FTA and APSA anticipate that potential R&D delays will also add costs to importers and exporters when it comes to storage and container detention fees.
Reports also state that a similar shutdown will take place again in May 2023.