The Murray Basin Rail Project is making waves in the shipping industry, with the Port of Portland in south-western Victoria set to get a boost from the rail upgrade, which will allow it to handle larger freight volumes.
As the westernmost commercial port in Victoria, Portland is close to the South Australian border and important in agricultural and mineral export trades.
It is regularly visited by bulk vessels which collect consignments of grain, mineral sands and hardwood woodchips among other commodities.
Portland is currently isolated from the Murray freight network due to its standard-gauge rail connection but as part of the state government’s $416m Murray Basin project, it is set to get direct access to the Murray Basin freight network.
Whereas much of Victoria, including Portland, is on standard gauge, the north-west of the state (a crucial grain producing area) is on broad gauge.
The project to standardise the rail network is expected to be finished about 2018.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews recently joined Portland Mayor Robert Halliday and Port of Portland chief executive Jim Cooper on a port tour.
Andrews said the extra funding would help the south-west.
“By better connecting Portland to primary producers across North Western Victoria and over the border into New South Wales, the $416m project will boost the amount of product exported through the port, supporting jobs and driving economic growth in South Western Victoria,” Andrews said.
“Our commitment to the full Murray Basin Rail Project will bring big benefits to Portland, providing direct access to North-West Victoria and New South Wales for the first time.”
Not only would the project move commodities more efficiently, it would also ease pressure on the regional roads network, a network that has been badly damaged from heavy flooding in recent years.
Port of Portland chief executive Jim Cooper talked of a “once in a generation initiative” that would not only boost efficiency but triple the catchment size, allowing them to compete with Geelong in the grain market.
He said Portland already had the advantage of being the only port in Victoria able to handle a fully-loaded panamax bulker.
Premier Andrews has also called on the federal government to contribute to the project.
The government believes the project will boost the amount of product moved through Portland, as well as securing the future of the Iluka’s Hamilton processing plant which uses Portland as an export terminal.
It is also expected that the upgrade will help boost grain export volumes at a time when there is added demand for grain in the global market, the government predicting the state as a whole will see an increase of 500,000 tonnes a year.
The state government is also talking up possible freight benefits and from competition between regional centres as a result of a better links to the ports of Portland, Geelong and Melbourne.
The full Murray Basin Rail Project is to standardise lines from Geelong to Mildura, Manangatang, Sea Lake and Murrayville and reopen the unused standard gauge connection between Maryborough and Ararat.
The state government has asked the commonwealth to partner with the state of Victoria in contributing further funding.
This article originally appeared in Rail Express affiliate Lloyd’s List Australia.
If the roads in the region are so bad, why are the Victorian and South Australian governments not seriously considering also standardising and reopening the link from Heywood to Mount Gambier and maybe even a reconnecction to the main east west corridor at Wolseley? A few studies over the years have suggested that there is plenty of freight in this corridor and that some short line operations would be quite viable, if the track were available for use.