A federal government transport strategy for the Perth to Darwin corridor has attracted strong criticism from three Western Australian stakeholders – shipping agency Sea Corporation Pty Ltd, the Broome Port Authority, and the Kimberley Development Commissi
A federal government transport strategy for the Perth to Darwin corridor has attracted strong criticism from three Western Australian stakeholders – shipping agency Sea Corporation Pty Ltd, the Broome Port Authority, and the Kimberley Development Commission.
In a letter to the Department of Transport and Regional Services, the trio declared the department’s Auslink strategy to be ‘road-centric’ for its failure to consider WA’s shipping service.
Kimberley Development Commission chief executive officer Jeff Gooding said it was important to retain competing modes of transport in the region.
He said a shipping service, in addition to road transport, provided the best opportunities for both the community and business.
“Alternative methods of transport provide downward price pressure on freight rates, and freight rates are crucial to the cost of living and the cost of doing business,” Mr Gooding said.
“That’s not to say that the shipping service is likely to have a very adverse effect on the road transport industry – road transport will always be the major provider in the region. The issue is keeping competitive forces there.”
He said while other states had rail transport as an alternative to road, this was not the case in WA.
Broome Port Authority chief executive officer and harbour master, Vic Justice, said the existing shipping service provided a competitive alternative that would benefit projects, such as oil and gas developments, in the region.
“When you save a percentage on construction costs for a major project, you save a lot of money,” Mr Justice told WA Business News.
“We’ve got a lot of major projects on the planning board up here, stretching all the way from Exmouth to the top end of WA. Before any major projects or developments starts, we have to have the support infrastructure in place.”
Mr Justice said he believed demand would increase for the shipping service as more projects came online.
“The other thing is, with the coastal shipping arrangement, you’ve got Broome rapidly becoming an inter-modal hub for sea to road [transport] and road to sea,” he said.
Seacorp Coastal Shipping managing director Craig Thompson said the state government estimated that WA’s shipping service delivered a cost saving of around 20 to 30 per cent, by providing an alternative to road transport.
Seacorp is the only licensed carrier for the route and currently transports 14 per cent of total trade by road and sea within the corridor.
The company plans to replace its existing vessel with a new vessel, Kimberley Rose, in the first week of July, which will increase capacity to about 20 per cent of the total.
“The important aspect of the coastal shipping service is, without it, road transport rates would go through the roof,” Mr Thompson said.
“I’d like to see some federal funding and Northern Territory government funding come into play.”
