Pacific National has praised NSW deputy premier John Barilaro’s move to establish a ‘special activation precinct’ to help streamline development of Parkes Shire Council’s National Logistics Hub.
Parkes is the future intersection of the main western railway between Sydney and Perth, and the Inland Rail project being build between Brisbane and Melbourne. Pacific National has committed $35 million to develop a logistics terminal within the National Logistics Hub.
PN chief executive Dean Dalla Valle on February 14 said Parkes, already known as the Elvis capital of Australia, would soon be known in freight circles as ‘Memphis Down Under’.
“Parkes Shire Council’s National Logistics Hub, the Australian Government’s Inland Rail Project, and the NSW Government’s special activation precinct,” Dalla Valle said, “three great ideas.”
PN began building its logistics terminal at Parkes in October 2018. Freight trains 1,800 metres in length are expected to be hauling from the terminal to Perth later this year.
“Companies like Pacific National will have the added investment confidence to help create the largest freight and logistics precinct in inland regional Australia; akin to the major freight hub of Memphis in the interior of the United States of America,” Dalla Valle said.
“Once the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project is complete, regional enterprises can use Parkes as the launching pad to haul goods and commodities by rail more efficiently between the ports of Botany, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle.”
Once operational, PN’s logistics site at Parkes will be able to process roughly 450,000 containers per annum.
“Pacific National is proud to be part of Parkes,” Dalla Valle concluded. “Terminal construction is currently generating about 40 jobs, while the future terminal will have a workforce of 100 people.”