Rival reacts as Corrigan says there are no viable intermodal terminals in Sydney

<p>There is no progress being made towards developing intermodal terminals to handle the switch of 40% of Sydney’s box throughput to rail &#8211 a critical element of the Port Botany expansion &#8211 Patrick Corp managing director Chris Corrigan told the Commission of Inquiry into the expansion last week (Friday, February 19). </p> <p>"There is not a single intermodal terminal in Sydney that is economically viable or efficient," Mr Corrigan said, naming Patrick’s facilities and those operated by rivals such at Macarthur Intermodal Shipping Terminals (MIST). </p> <p>"I am at a loss to know how the intermodal facilities are to be made available to meet this task.</p> <p>"It has become clear that the State Government has no plan. </p> <p>"The plan when you have no plan is to set up a committee &#8211 and my experience with committees is that they do not work. </p> <p>"The reality is that rail movements are not increasing, they are decreasing." </p> <p>However, his comments have drawn criticism from MIST, where the siding that services the facility was sold by Pacific National in December 2004 to Patrick land holding company Mareema, and Toll Properties. </p> <p>MIST had been negotiating with Pacific National, and subsequently Patrick and Toll, to extend the track, which was originally owned by pre-privatisation FreightCorp as part of a joint venture with Bowport Allroads to build MIST. </p> <p>"We believe if Pacific National, Patrick and Toll let us use our property properly, with double the track length, we could put more volume on longer trains at lower train fee costs," MIST managing director Steve Heraghty said. </p> <p>"We could have a lot more depth &#8211 but our competitors are trying to control our growth."</p> <p>MIST is forecasting volumes of at least 50,000 teu this year on just its existing track length, after starting with 17,000 teu in its first full year, 2002. </p> <p>Mr Heraghty said MIST had offered Pacific National $4m last year to buy the siding, but it was eventually sold to Patrick and Toll for $2.791m.</p> <br />