Melbourne Port Capacity Project
Melbourne’s Port Capacity Project has extensive features designed to achieve efficient integration with the urban environment around the port, a subject climbing ever higher on the port planning agenda worldwide. One of the biggest challenges that ports face today is achieving expansion when located in an urban environment.
It is a worldwide challenge but one that is usually toughest when confronted in a mature economy where stringent planning and environmental regulations have to be complied with. It is certainly a challenge faced today by the Port of Melbourne Corp (PoMC) as it moves to implement its new Port Capacity Project which includes the development of new container and automotive terminals at the port’s Webb Dock as well as upgrading facilities at Swanson Dock, home to the port’s existing container terminals.
In conjunction with both container and automotive trade, the objective is to provide new capacity that will meet trade requirements over the medium term and thus consolidate and expand the port of Melbourne’s important role in both respects. It is, for instance, Australia’s leading container hub in volume terms and with the Port Capacity Project underway is expected to maintain this important status for the foreseeable future.
Planning for such a project has distinct macro elements:
- Marine access requirements – meeting future needs in terms of channel draught, draught alongside the quays and turning circle dimensions.
- Road access planning – covering both internal road networks within the port boundaries and interaction with other government agencies to ensure interfacing road network planning with emphasis on such factors as improving road links and directing traffic away from residential areas. At a micro level, there is also the aspect of detailed planning by new concession holders and existing terminal operators to better manage the flow of truck traffic to and from their respective terminals. Again, it is appropriate to look at this in the context of the broader planning framework so that all the component parts, large and small, mesh together.
- Rail access – if this is available then it represents a valuable weapon in the armoury to alleviate pressure on the road system and has the benefit of other environmentally friendly characteristics. This is usually most viable when cargo is transported over longer distances but as can be seen in the port of Fremantle on the west coast of Australia it is also possible to grow rail’s market share over shorter distances, basically to move containers from the port to hub points just outside the urban environment.
- Freight & Logistics Plan – complementing the preceding elements a state or region wide Freight & Logistics Plan can be developed. The Freight & Logistics Plan introduced by the state of Victoria, while amended by the recently appointed Labour government to remove the high cost East-West Link across Melbourne, still embodies many aspects found in such a plan including:
- Providing for more arterial freight movements late at night and early in the mornings.
- The establishment of freight hubs.
- Adoption of solutions such as ‘the last km initiative’, staging traffic flow to major freight hubs/port gateways.
- Identifying freight compatible transport routes.
- Investment in major new infrastructure.
- Investment in dedicated freight rail.
For example, with the road system development in conjunction with the new Webb Dock container operations, the Port Capacity Project provides direct connections onto the M1 West Gate Freeway by closing Williamstown Road to port traffic, west of the intersection of Todd Road and Williamstown Road. Even though additional container volume is expected the total volume of container traffic moving on the M1, according to detailed studies, will account for less than five percent of overall traffic.
Micro matters
A more micro-focused element in the planning process is what can be done in the immediate vicinity of new terminal development in terms of mitigating negative environmental impact. Measures can include: noise walls to reduce the impacts of operations on nearby communities, screening and landscaping, provision of parklands and as in the case of the new Webb Dock container terminal the development of a satellite empty container depot which facilitates a better flow in operations overall. The new Webb Dock container terminal operator, Victoria International Container Terminals Limited (VICT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Container Terminals Inc.
(ICTSI), the international terminal operator, is known to have gone to some lengths in its development plan to consider the important aspect of road traffic management alongside other matters important to local residents and other stakeholders. This is understood to have been a strong requirement of PoMC in the bid submission process and follows a growing trend in this direction worldwide. The basis of the VICT truck management program is to control the flow of trucks arriving at the terminal and particularly during peak hours.
Basically, the terminal will offer a given number of truck handling slots per operating hour with these taking into account the terminal’s truck handling capacity, trucker requirements, the capacity of the public road network and local community factors. The truck slots are offered by 1-Stp VBS, a Web-based slot booking system, already widely in use in the port of Melbourne with proven capabilities.
Trucks will only be handled at the terminal when arriving within the specified time slot. There will also be emphasis in operational planning on reducing the dead legs of trucks – i.e. achieving container carriage inbound and outbound from the terminal. Current arrangements see a large number of trucks only carrying containers in one direction and returning empty. Gate facilities at VICTL will offer ample handling and parking capacity – in excess of the available time slots – even during peak hours.
The truck arrival process will be further facilitated by the use of OCR technology and self-service gate pedestals, minimising truck processing times and maintaining container flow. The truck arrival process will be further facilitated by the use of OCR technology and self-service gate pedestals, minimising truck processing times and maintaining container flow.
The deployment of an automated handling solution, typically in the yard area, invariably results in smoother container handling with ensuing benefits in terms of the reduction of noise, smoke and other emissions as well as a significantly reduced requirement for terminal lighting. The footprint of the modern container terminal, properly thought through and drawing on recent advances in container system specification, without doubt has the potential to be far less intrusive than earlier generations of terminal.
Added value
Ports have traditionally not grown in isolation – by far the majority of the top 100 container ports, for example, serve a hinterland with a major city nearby.
Indeed, recent studies by OECD talk about ports and cities being strongly linked historically and in its definitive study, The Competitiveness of Global Port-Cities: Synthesis Report, when discussing the way forward for the city port relationship it states:
“Local goodwill for port functions in cities is essential and can be earned. Environmental policies and incentive schemes have reduced a variety of environmental impacts, transport policies in and around ports have mitigated congestion and port relocations have freed up centrally located urban land for other functions.”
Interestingly, the report further states: “The key issue is how to get more local value for money out of ports.”
And that: “Three main models exist for cities to reap additional benefits from their ports: maritime services clusters, industrial development and port-related waterfront development. Maritime services clusters,” it explains, “try to attract high value added services related to the maritime industry, such as maritime finance, consulting, law and engineering services.
Industrial development related to ports has traditionally taken place because many industries are interested in being close to imported resources and consumer markets. Finally, “the report states, “waterfront development has frequently managed to capitalise on port and maritime heritage and transform this into a source of urban growth.” There is a recognition that if ports have to continue to function in close proximity to the urban environment that by working at the relationship there are ways of extracting added value from it.
The point is also well made by OECD that the port sector itself has been responsible for considerable innovation in seeking ways to efficiently co-exist with all stakeholders in an urban environment. By way of example, it elaborates on the subject of truck arrival/road traffic management highlighted above. It cites a number of examples which together with others from around the world are referenced in separate panel.
Where there are high throughput terminals in operation in the developed and emerging world there is increasing attention being focused on adopting a number of these and other measures as a path to not only efficient terminal operation but the equally important aspect of peaceful co-existence with other parties active in the urban environment; residents and all other stakeholders.
Gate strategies
Truck appointment systems
Penalties for incorrect arrival times – for instance the need to rebook
Third-party booking systems to increase truck utilisation/reduce truck numbers
Extending gate hours
Dedicated gates (for reefer cargo for example) as appropriate
Virtual container yards
Direct communication with truck drivers via Telephone Apps and other means
Hinterland Strategies
Time windows of access/increased night movement of cargo
Extension of port working hours
Increased competition between hinterland modes of transport
Dedicated freight routes
Messaging via variable signage on approach routes
Parking restrictions and enforcement on approach routes
Employment of modern container carriage systems to reduce the number of trucks on the road – for instance the Australian ‘super B-double’ truck combination able to carry four 20ft containers or two 40ft units on one vehicle system.
