Transport operators involved in the movement of containers to and from the Port of Melbourne are bracing themselves for a big hit to their costs and some tough discussions with customers when tolls are activated in support of the new West Gate Tunnel and West Gate Freeway upgrades.
In a statement released today the Container Transport Alliance of Australia says its modelling shows the costs of container transport operations to and from the Port of Melbourne will increase by about 13 per cent, and up to 30 per cent, compared to the current market driven base container road cartage rates.
The date for the opening of the new tunnel is yet to be confirmed by either Transurban or the Victorian State Government.
What is known is that the new tolling point for heavy vehicles will be east of Millers Road on the M1, with heavy vehicles having to pay a toll (inbound and outbound) whether they use the new tunnel, the West Gate Bridge or the new ramps to and from Hyde Street.
No Truck Zones will come into play on inner west roads in Melbourne as the tolls go live, including Francis Street and Somerville Road in Yarraville, Buckley Street and Moore Street in Footscray, Blackshaws Road in Altona North and Hudsons Road in Spotswood.
The CTAA says the No Truck Zones will have the impact of funnelling heavy vehicles onto the M1 (as the only authorised east-west route), and onto the north-south arterial roads such as Williamstown Road and Millers Road for access to the Port of Melbourne from the inner west industrial precincts of Tottenham and Brooklyn.
It says the impact of the tolls depends on the location of the customer, the allowed heavy vehicle routes, time of day, heavy vehicle utilisation ratios, and variables outside of the direct control of transport operators such as the location of the designated empty container park for import de-hire or export pick-up.
The organisation’s modelling shows that as around 60 per cent of the empty container park capacity servicing trade through the Port of Melbourne is in the western industrial suburbs of Melbourne and that on many occasions additional tolls will be incurred as transport operators undertake the empty container transport task on top of delivering full import and export containers.
“As an example, one typical scenario applicable to a container transport operator located in the west might include up to eight different trip tolls (or more) to complete the total supply chain logistics cycle for one shipping container:
- Truck travel to the container terminal in the Port of Melbourne to pick up full import container: 1 toll
- Truck travel back to transport yard with full container for staging through yard: 1 toll
- Truck travel from yard to deliver full container to customer’s premises: 1 toll (or more depending on the customer’s location)
- Truck return to transport yard: 1 toll (or more) • Truck travel back to customer’s premises to retrieve empty container: 1 toll (or more)
- Truck travel to transport yard with empty container for staging: 1 toll (or more) • Truck travel to de-hire empty container at empty container park: 1 toll
- Truck return to transport yard: 1 toll
“Initial Transurban tolling rates for a one-way trip of a Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) through the Millers Road Tolling Gantry will be $19.78 during the day. Longer Heavy Commercial Vehicles (LHCVs: i.e. 26 metres in length and above, including Higher Productivity Freight Vehicles such as 30m(+) A-doubles) will attract a higher toll of $29.67 per one-way trip during the day.
“Taking the example container logistics scenario outlined above, and applying tolling costs associated with HCV operations during the day, shows that the total logistics cycle for that one shipping container could attract up to $158.24 in tolling costs.”
CTAA has asked the Government and Transurban to provide at least one month’s notice so that transport operators can indicate to their customers when toll cost recovery will commence.
Further concerns raised by the CTAA in regards the new tunnel opening include the identification of road network challenges making it says are making it difficult for higher productivity truck and trailer set ups to access the new infrastructure, such as the bridge on Grieve Parade in Altona North that is restricted to a 68.5 tonne gross vehicle mass and bridges on the Princes Freeway that are restricted to 69t GVM.
“CTAA urges the Government and DTP to commence an in-depth study of the origins and destinations of the Victorian freight task, particularly the container import / export task. Then, a solid plan of action can be implemented to further invest in the freight network to maximise the payload productivity gains that are currently held back due to network deficiencies.”