NSW lifts Port Botany container transport productivity

From late 2019, the efficiency and productivity of NSW container transports improved with New South Wales Class 3 Port Botany Container Transportation Mass Exemption Notice 2019.

To increase the productivity of container transports in Sydney to and from Port Botany, Advantia was engaged by TfNSW to investigate options for increasing the allowable mass of heavy vehicles and complete a cost-benefit analysis of increasing productivity to the impact on road pavements.

The project included consultation with industry to understand the current challenges of import containers and the proportion of containers that would stand to benefit from operating above General Mass Limits and the perimeter of operation for Port Botany containers.

An analysis of approving the Gross Combination Mass of heavy vehicles transporting containers (largely 19-metre semi-trailers and 26-metre B-doubles) to increase from General Mass Limits to Concessional Mass Limits would result in a reduction of truck trips in excess of 100,000 per year. The analysis also concluded the marginal increase in pavement consumption would increase by $0.11 and $0.13 per tonne of payload for 100-kilometres of travel for semi-trailers and B-doubles respectively.

To qualify for the added mass provisions within the Notice, operators are required to be enrolled in an approved telematics program and have a minimum set of heavy vehicle safety features including lane departure warning systems and enhanced braking systems. Further information is available from the Operators Guide (https://www.nhvr.gov.au/files/201906-1057-operators-guide-nsw-class-3-port-botany-container-transportation.pdf)