DCN0718_Combined_150

LOGISTICS & SUPPLY CHAIN
LINX IN THE CHAIN
How a Sydney intermodal park may ease congestion around Port Botany and provide a smoother
supply chain for importers and exporters to Brisbane and the international market
Talk to LINX Cargo Care chief executive Anthony Jones
about Enfield Intermodal Terminal and there’s no mistaking
his enthusiasm.
“The excitement is where it sits in the rail geography. It is
perfectly positioned on the junction of the Southern Freight
Line, the Port Botany dedicated freight line and also the
freight network up into Strathfield and up north,” he tells Daily
Cargo News.
“When I look at it as a rail infrastructure supply chain
solution, we can offer an intermodal terminal without any
inefficiency.
“We see the terminal as being highly efficient and highly
productive with great infrastructure… we know this will work
and we know we will be able to give value back to the importers
and exporters.”
To recap, earlier this year it was announced LINX had
secured the right to lease and operate the Enfield Intermodal
Terminal in western Sydney, a facility previously operated
by Aurizon.
LINX is also to operate a port shuttle service between the
terminal and Port Botany, 18km away.
Some key features:
• 15.1ha of leasehold from NSW Ports
• Annual terminal capacity of 300,000 TEU
• Two rail sidings of 920 metres in length and through-line of
1800 metres, enabling the management of longer trains.
The terminal is part of the Enfield Intermodal Logistics
Centre which includes warehousing, buildings and vacant
land for the development of rail-related warehousing, freight
forwarding, transport and import/export facilities.
Currently the terminal handles about 24,000 TEU equivalent,
so considerable growth is anticipated.
Mr Jones indicates the company is keen to maximise capacity.
“Our aim is to drive that throughput so we maximise that full
300,000-TEU capacity and work in closely with the stevedores,
the truck access providers and the NSW government,” he says.
He notes forecast throughput at Port Botany should
increase demand for the terminal.
To give some context to his statement, a 2015 NSW Ports
study suggested that Port Botany would be handling anywhere
between 7.5m and 8.4m TEU by 2045.
“Facilitating the efficient and sustainable handling of growing
trade volumes through the Port will maximise economic benefit
for the state and minimise environmental impacts on the local
and wider community,” the report authors wrote.
“The key drivers of container growth through Port Botany
are domestic demand, population growth, the strength of
the NSW economy, the value of the Australian dollar, levels of
domestic manufacturing, government trade policies and the
location of key distribution centres.”
Mr Jones says such trends were sure to boost the need for
the Enfield Intermodal Terminal.
“The more growth you have, the more land you need, the
more you can move out to satellite terminals,” he says.
EMPTY CONTAINER PARKS
Mr Jones explains the role of an empty container park capacity
at the terminal (a facility that is still to begin operating).
“We see the empty container park as being critical. It’s
actually not functioning at the moment. We are shuttling boxes
from empty parks to try and triangulate and backload our
export volume,” he says. “Once we get an empty park onsite,
we will be able to bring export trains down from the country
direct into port, backload them with imports and then offload
those imports at Enfield and then reload the empties to go
back up-country.”
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ENFIELD
DCN asked Mr Jones about the significance of Enfield as part of
its overall business.
“We’re committed to rail... We have our Riverina train; we
have an expanding rail business,” he says.
“So for us, we see this as a bit of a beachhead investment
for us. It gives us a great solution… a solution that will be
attractive, and is already proving to be attractive to importers
and exporters.
“But it also gives us the opportunity (to provide) a Sydney or
a Melbourne solution to our customers.”
LINX
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First published in 1891
July 2018 thedcn.com.au