Container Transport

["Robert Bushby" <romanabt@tassie.net.au>]

What potential is there for landbridging containers along the East Coast by
rail!

Someone mentioned a while back that there was a trial between Melbourne and
Sydney on a weekly basis, and certainly, it seems to be happening to a
limited extent to Fishermans Island (Brisbane) already.

Latest rumours around the shipping world are that P&O Neddlloyd will
introduce new 5,500 TEU ships on the Europe Australia run when the "Tasman"
commences her run later this year. These new generation large container
ships are too big for many ports, and the word is that they will not be able
to get into Melbourne with their deep draft - she may even miss out on a
couple of other ports to.

With new generation container ships this size, and port charges being
tonnage and time based, it looks like opportunities for landbridging in
Australia may be about to increase in a big way - these ships are over twice
the capacity of anything else we see at the moment. Trains might be slower
than trucks between East Coast cities, but they are still quicker than
ships.

Now let's see if the Railway marketing guru's can get out there and set this
up properly without  all  those colourful boxes finishing up on the back of
trucks.

I can feel a national loco shortage coming on!!
--
Rob Bushby
South Coast Extended (HO - NSWGR)
(under construction)
Queenstown, Tasmania.
romanabt@tassie.net.au