KEWDALE-based Sadleirs Transport has expanded its current contract with transport infrastructure company Asciano Group through a seven-year, $150 million deal to transfer rail wagons between Perth and Melbourne.
KEWDALE-based Sadleirs Transport has expanded its current contract with transport infrastructure company Asciano Group through a seven-year, $150 million deal to transfer rail wagons between Perth and Melbourne.
The deal is an extension of an existing agreement with Pacific National, fully-owned by ASX-listed Asciano, which currently provides Sadleirs with services to transport rail vans between Sydney and Perth.
It highlights a flurry of activity in the Kewdale transport hub, which includes a redevelopment by Asciano of terminal 1 of the Kewdale Freight Terminal.
Sadleirs director Frank Cook said the agreement follows Sadleirs’ $20 million investment in two development projects that will ensure the company has sufficient capacity for its projected growth over the next 10 years; its Kewdale rail freight terminal expansion and the construction of a new rail freight terminal in Spotswood, Victoria.
Sadleirs has redeveloped its existing Kewdale rail freight terminal site, on the corner of Leach Highway and Miles Road, revamping its office building and doubling the terminal’s size to 8,000 square metres.
Mr Cook told WA Business News the Asciano deal will support the company’s growth plans and is indicative of Sadleirs’ confidence in the freight rail market.
“This deal was important to ensure the continuity of supply for Sadleirs, and is part of the (Sydney to Perth) arrangement we’ve had since 1995, and now that’s extended to Melbourne and Perth to ensure some longevity,” he said.
“So it will guarantee some continuity for us and of course will guarantee some increased revenue for Pacific National.”
Sadleirs has a long-standing partnership with Pacific National, which currently provides an ‘intermodal’ container operation from Victoria to Western Australia and a line haul van traffic operation from Sydney to Kewdale.
The deal comes after Asciano last month swung back into the black for the first half of fiscal 2010 with a $79 million profit, compared to a $93 million loss in the prior corresponding period.
Asciano managing director Mark Rowsthorn said the agreement reflected Pacific National’s “willingness and flexibility” to provide transport solutions for all types of customers and reinforces its position in the ‘intermodal’ freight market.
“It is important that we continue to provide quality customer service for our intermodal customers and that we look for opportunities to support their growth aspirations and in turn grow our business,” he said in a statement.
Appian Group was in 2005 engaged by Asciano for the redevelopment of the Kewdale Freight Terminal, which is being revamped to meet increased interstate container traffic demand, projected to increase at a rate of 10 per cent per annum.
The first part of the redevelopment, which is not linked to Sadleirs’, is based on a 50-year lease of 67.8 hectares to Asciano, and ties in with a $15 million Public Transport Authority investment to provide power, water and sewerage services as well as the creation of drainage basins, new entry roads, and demolition works.
Asciano will relocate significant infrastructure in the precinct, in particular a WestNet rail corridor which passes through the middle of the existing terminal lease.
Sadleirs, which is owned by 180-year-old transport and packaging company Lionel Samson & Son, offers a range of transport services such as container handling to general cartage, customs brokerage to bond storage, warehousing to distribution, and special projects to logistics.
