A GLADSTONE box terminal linked with Inland Rail can play a transformative role in handing east coast freight, Inter-Port Global strategic advisor Andrew Robb says.
Andrew Robb addressing the Developing Northern Australia Conference. Image: David Sexton / DCN
Mr Robb, a former federal trade minister, also said the project could contribute to developing northern Australia.
Inter-Port Global produced a report into Gladstone as far back as May 2017 and has noted its potential for trade beyond coal and gas.
Mr Robb spoke at the Developing Northern Australia Conference in Cairns in a presentation focused on solving export and freight constraints through private infrastructure.
“I think [a Gladstone container port] is the most significant infrastructure development in northern Australia in my lifetime,” he told the conference.
“We have got major ports in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane that are now heavily congested and the water in these ports is shallow.
“All this has led to costly bottlenecks and there is little scope for them to alter the existing situation to increase capacity and, if they do increase capacity, you end up with more trucks in the cities.”
The Australian and Queensland governments are working on a business case for a rail link connecting Gladstone with the Inland Rail in New South Wales.
A link between Toowoomba and Gladstone has been mentioned, albeit Mr Robb talked of a line running further west near Miles in Queensland’s Western Downs and then to North Star in NSW.
Mr Robb said a Gladstone container port would link with the Inland Railway via a new line running through the Surat Basin, south past Miles and down to North Star in NSW.
Toowoomba would be bypassed to save travel time, but this significant city still would be connected via a branch line.
Mr Robb said opening a Gladstone box port could bring benefits for Central Queensland “a potential food bowl”, as well as help the nation cater for a rapidly increasing population.
“The deepwater port of Gladstone provides a solution of not only great regional significance, but also of great national significance,” he said.
Mr Robb envisaged a project driven by the private sector.
“There have been so many plans [over the years] for the Surat Basin all the way up that corridor and they have never materialised because they have relied on major government spending,” he said.
“When push came to shove, they’ve fallen over.”