General News
3 July, 2024
Rail: the future of freight
Dooen’s Specialised Container Transport (SCT) business is playing a crucial role in the nation's rail freight network as Australia's largest privately-owned logistics rail company - and founder and owner Peter Smith said its role is likely to grow bigger over time.
Mr Smith told a Wimmera forum about the importance of his company’s intermodal centre at Dooen as part of the government’s future plans to increase the amount of freight moved by rail.
SCT officials also said the company currently removed an estimated 22,000 truck loads off the highways between Horsham and Melbourne each year, and that they were planning a $120 million expansion within the next 10 years.
This year alone, Dooen intermodal centre operators will move more than 14,000 containers - about 270 a week - almost all carrying grain or legumes produced within the Wimmera-Mallee region from Horsham to the Port of Melbourne.
National Farmers' Federation president David Jochinke spoke online to the audience at the SCT 50th anniversary event from a carbon forum he was attending in the Netherlands.
He said the Gtech conference in Rotterdam had made him more aware that producers needed to know where they fitted into the food chain, to be aware of their carbon footprint, and to understand the significance of freight costs to all farmers.
“SCT offered a great opportunity to send freight to ports while reducing road traffic and road wear and tear,” Mr Jochinke said.
“Railing freight is also a safer option for road users.
Mr Jochinke said the $150 million upgrade of the line from Maroona near Ararat to Portland would prove invaluable to producers, as other Wimmera industries such as plant-based protein production were also considering rail freight over road transport.
"Roads are a challenge to councils and governments, and having a rail facility is very important to us," he said.
“A good rail network also allows farmers to consider crops not traditionally grown in the region, and encourages food packaging manufacturers to set up in the Wimmera and southern Mallee."
Mr Jochinke said, however, that port costs needed to be kept in check, and rail facilities well maintained to the appropriate standards.
"We're an export nation and we will continue that way," he said.
"There's still many blue-sky opportunities out there."
- WITH SAMANTHA SMITH.