Short haul: Still in its infancy

Sometimes it is the logical solution, providing the most efficient and cost-effective means of moving cargo to or from a given port. Key influential factors in this respect are usually an on-dock rail capability and practically speaking a rail system that works in terms of track quality, capacity and the right equipment to haul containers and other cargo.

There is also the reality that the viability of putting cargo on rail usually increases the longer the distance involved. When it comes to short haul the level of challenge goes up substantially. This is an issue now being confronted with some vigour in conjunction with the main ports in Australia, all of whom tend to have big metropolitan clusters around them. Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle are all good examples.

The port of Brisbane foresees a container rail shuttle service with the existing Acacia Ridge Rail Terminal and potentially between other new hubs such as on the north side of Brisbane. Melbourne has plans for a port rail container shuttle to serve two suburban hubs, Somerton in the north and Altona in the South West.

Fremantle, operating with the benefit of a government subsidy of A$50 per TEU, has already made good progress in building container volume by rail – 16 per cent of the port’s container volume was carried by rail in year 2017-18.

The North Quay Rail Terminal (NRQT) in the port of Fremantle provides a direct rail link to the Forestfield Intermodal Terminal, a short haul away sited in an industrial area and offering freight forwarding services and close to inter-state rail facilities.

Also eligible for subsidy are containers moving between NRQT and the Kwinana Intermodal Terminal, a facility slated for expansion and ultimately intended to serve the new Outer Harbour development in Fremantle.

Bottom line Fremantle’s success to-date has undoubtedly benefitted considerably from the positive influence of the A$50TEU government subsidy. As Western Australia’s Department of Transport (DoT) readily acknowledges: “Short haul rail services, such as the port shuttle between Forrestfield Intermodal Terminal (FIMT) and the North Quay Rail Terminal (NQRT), are more costly to operate on a commercial basis than trucking operations.

Rail has higher fixed costs, and rail services incur additional costs associated with multiple staging points,” states the DoT.

VARIABLES TO CONSIDER

Getting the formula right for effective short haul rail operations does, however, not just come down to price, there are many variables to consider, not the least of which are the following:

Total journey cost – short haul services offered without subsidy can significantly add to total journey cost. And can be negatively impacted by the additional transport legs a rail movement can generate.

Timing – speed is not always optimal via short haul rail because of the additional number of container transfers and journey legs plus the general issue of whether the rail solution offered dovetails with overall supply chain requirements.

Level playing field – providing port-side intermodal rail facilities that offer equality of service to competing container terminal operators, now a big issue in Melbourne.

Short-haul container movements are conducted in conjunction with various ports around the world. The take-up of this system – as Australia currently demonstrates – has the potential to grow significantly in today’s increasingly congested road traffic conditions and in a much more environmentally conscious world.

Short haul container rail systems can nevertheless today still be regarded as in their infancy. Measures to boost efficiency and reduce costs – for instance public sector investment in infrastructure, automated container transfer and computer driven loading/pick-up and train scheduling arrangements have, together with a wide range of other initiatives, to continue to be explored and harnessed to the benefit of short haul rail in particular.

The reality is that the truck still dominates in short haul container movements and it will take a concerted effort to narrow this position.