Container Transport Management

A Case Study Perth, Western Australia

Bob Peters
1.

BACKGROUND

The containerisation of freight being shipped around the world has grown rapidly
for many years. In the case of Perth it has grown rapidly to about 450,000
Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) per annum moving through its port of
Fremantle. The task continues to grow at about 10% per annum.
The port of Fremantles container terminal is situated in the heart of the City of
Fremantle, a place that is rapidly becoming a very fashionable and desirable
place to live. (Demographics changing dramatically. Place being gentrified.)
There is capacity within the port for the container terminal to grow until it reaches
its capacity of about 1.2 million TEUs per year in about 10 to15 years.
However the transporting of the containers to and from Fremantle has, and still
is, very contentious. Its management is a classic conundrum for the transport
network operator how to make the transport task happen in a way that is most
acceptable to all parties. (i.e. address the tension at the port-community
interface) The essence of the task is to contain heavy vehicle impacts in the face
of rapidly rising trade through the Port. This brief paper outlines the approach
being adopted in Perth.

2.

KEY ISSUES

The owners of the containers want them moved between Fremantle and their
depots as cheaply and quickly as possible. The quickest and cheapest way of
moving them is generally by truck. The roads presently being used are not ideal
for the task somewhat congested, not particularly safe and adjacent to many
residential areas. Plans for a new road designed to address these deficiencies
became politicised and ended up being scrapped because of perceived
community impacts. The rail system serving Fremantle was poor and not
competitive because of its low volumes and short journey distances.

3.

THE PLAN

The network operator (the State road and traffic authority)) has played a major
role in formulating a plan that is the best compromise between the competing
forces. The master plan has six elements, some of which are particularly
important to the network operator:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Extend a major highway to take some non-container traffic off present

roads;
Put more freight on rail;
Build inland container terminals;
Make better use of existing roads;
Plan for a new container terminal in a better location; and
Improve existing roads.

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Each of these actions will provide marginal benefits, but collectively they will
provide major benefits.
The master plan acknowledges that the existing container terminals throughput
will continue to grow but wants its impact on roads to be kept to a minimum.
Without change, demand for road space for trucks carrying containers will also
increase by at least 10% per year something that is unacceptable. It is
expected that the new approach will keep this impact much smaller. So what will
each element of the plan do and achieve?
3.1

Extend Major Highway

This will divert non-container traffic off the roads carrying container traffic. Much
of the existing truck traffic on these roads is movement of freight between key
industrial areas.
3.2

More Freight on Rail

A dedicated rail loop and rail/sea intermodal terminal is being constructed at the
container terminal. This will lower the cost of moving containers by rail by
reducing handling costs and providing for the use of longer trains. The target is
to have 30% of containers moved by rail. Presently the figure is 5%. It needs to
be noted that most of the containers are moved between industrial areas in Perth
and the container terminal a relatively short journey unsuitable to a competitive
rail service. The disadvantage is exacerbated by the fact that the road distance is
25 km, while the rail journey is 45 km.
3.3

Build Inland Container Terminals

Presently the majority of container storage takes place near the container
terminal in Fremantle. This results in the movement of empty containers to and
from the port by road that would not need to be hauled on these roads if they
were stored in the hinterland close to packing/unpacking functions. The building
of inland container terminals will result in more of this activity taking place
elsewhere, resulting in less empty containers being transported to and from
Fremantle.
3.4

Better Use of Roads

By international standards trucks servicing the container terminal are already

very large able to carry three TEUs and have a gross mass of up to 88 tonne.
Surveys have however shown that up to 30% of the capacity of these trucks is
not used. Efforts are being made to better utilise these trucks. In particular, an
opportunity exists for container terminal operators at the Port to make use of
commercial levers such as their charging policy to encourage less empty truck
movements (i.e. full truck in, full truck out) and total utilisation of truck capacity. In
addition the network operator is looking into the possibility of permitting slightly
larger trucks those able to carry 4 TEUs, as is the case in Mexico and in limited
areas at ports around Australia. As well as this the network operator is working
with others to see what opportunities there are for trucks to operate at times
outside the present dominant envelope of 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday. This
will alleviate some road pressure but it does raise issues of truck noise in urban
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areas at nighttime.
3.5

Plan for New Container Port

Within the next 10-15 years, it is likely that the existing port will reach capacity in
terms of terminal facilities and community tolerance. An overflow port will be
required to handle ongoing growth. As a consequence planning is taking place
to build a new container port south of Fremantle in a location that has excellent
transport links road, rail and sea.
3.6

Improve Existing Roads

As truck movements will continue to grow on existing roads albeit more slowly
than would otherwise be the case, efforts to make the existing roads more
acceptable are being made. These efforts include treatments such as
demonstration noise walls, anti skid treatments, the provision of bus bays to
improve traffic flow, the provision of better traffic signals to improve safety and
improved traffic signal coordination. As by way of example the main road used
by the container carrying trucks has 27 sets of traffic signals. It is also the case
that it is the only direct link from the major industrial area and the international
airport to the Port. The traffic signals are coordinated using the SCATS system,
but further refinements are being made to try and improve service levels for the
container carrying trucks. VMS is also being considered with the view to
providing road users with advice on travel times and optimum travel speeds in
order to minimise journey stress and time.
In addition major infrastructure changes are being proposed for key intersections
converting them from at grade intersections to grade separations. Innovative at
grade solutions such as proposed in Mexico (crossing on coming traffic before
the intersection) have also been investigated, but dismissed due to their large
land area requirements.

4.

CONCLUSION

The network operator has a key role to play in improving transport operations. In
many places this largely revolves around car issues but as has been
demonstrated it can also involve freight. The successful road network operator
needs to be able to engage with freight - as well as people, other transport
modes, the community and key stakeholders in developing Wide Network
Operation solutions that are the best compromise between competing interests.

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