DCN AUGUST Edition 2019

NEWS IN BRIEF
QLD transport minister pushes for coastal shipping reform
A state parliamentary inquiry is considering reform for coastal shipping
in the Queensland context, transport minister Mark Bailey says.
Speaking at the Australian Potts Business and Operations
Conference in Townsville, Mr Bailey also urged the federal
government to step up.
“Queensland ports play a significant role in the distribution
of freight domestically with our intra and interstate sea freight,
typically accounting for about 40% of national coastal shipping
volumes,” the minister told delegates.
“While the shipping of bauxite from Weipa to Gladstone
comprises most of the state’s intrastate shipping task, it is also
important to recognise the role that ports and coastal shipping plays.
“They ensure that Queensland’s most remote communities up in
Cape York and across the Torres Strait have access to the essentials.”
Mr Bailey said the state parliamentary inquiry was
examining “a sustainable and intrastate shipping industry in
Queensland”.
“While we consider the recommendations of the inquiry we
also need leadership from the Australian government to ensure
that the Australian shipping industry and coastal shipping have a
sustainable future,” he said.
“Maintaining the sustainability of our supply chains, serving the
ports from land and sea remains a continuous challenge.”
Mr Bailey noted the value of coastal shipping in keeping supply
chains open, with the Flinders and Mt Isa Highways cut earlier in
the year in “an unprecedented major flooding event”.
The minister also spoke about a “strategic blueprint” for the
state’s north-west minerals province.
First ro-ro for Port Hedland
Port Hedland has welcomed its first conventional roll-on/roll-off vessel, giving
industry a more cost-effective way of delivering cargo to the region.
The 180-metre Blue Ridge Highway paid a short call in late June.
The visit followed 18 months of planning by Pilbara Ports Authority, vessel
owners K-Line and cargo receivers Sumitomo. The vessel began its journey in Japan
and stopped at Fremantle on its way to Port Hedland.
The ship’s cargo of offshore piping had been pre-assembled onto 22 separate
trailers.
The ro-ro vessel’s open vehicle deck design allowed the cargo to be unloaded in
about 90 minutes.
Cranes normally would be used to unload a non-ro-ro ship, which can take up to
12 hours.
Pilbara Ports Authority general manager operations John Finch said the aim was
to make ro-ro visits to the Pilbara a regular occurrence.
“The visit was a success and Pilbara Ports Authority is working with all
proponents to set up regular ro-ro calls to Port Hedland,” Mr Finch said.
“This would represent a significant cost and time saving for industry. Not only
does ro-ro vessel design make unloading easier and quicker, industry around Port
Hedland can get access to cargo straight from the port, rather than trucking it in
from elsewhere.”
To facilitate more visits from trade vessels such as the Blue Ridge Highway,
Pilbara Ports Authority is building new infrastructure to meet the Commonwealth
government’s new biosecurity and First Point of Entry Standards that come into
force on July 1, 2019.
The new infrastructure will allow vessels that come into Port Hedland to have
their cargoes inspected or treated if required.
Without this infrastructure cargo would need to be shipped to Fremantle.
Similar infrastructure is being built at Dampier and PPA is exploring berth
upgrades to enhance opportunities for future ro-ro calls across the Pilbara.
Blue Ridge Highway
1-STOP JOINS MIZZEN
CONTAINER PROJECT
WITH UTS
DYNAMIC pricing and rates
provider Mizzen Group has
announced 1-Stop Connections has
joined its Container Visibility Project.
The aim of the project, being
delivered with the support of
University of Technology Sydney,
is improved visibility in container
shipping supply chain operations.
Mizzen Group managing director
Jon Charles described 1-Stop as
“a supply chain innovator” whose
applications had “for many years
been optimising operations within
the port community”.
“With them joining our project, we
are able to add new capabilities and
turn data into useful insights for the
industry as a whole,” Mr Charles said.
Mizzen partnered with the UTS
Department of Computer Science and
Centre for Artificial Intelligence under
the federal government APR.Intern
grant scheme.
The work was led by Associate
Professor Farookh Khadeer Hussain
and PhD candidate Ayesha Ubaid.
Associate Professor Farookh
Khadeer Hussain said they modelled
the relationship between weekly
container volumes, shipping
capacity and prices in the Asia-
Australia trade lane.
From this they used machine
learning to build a price prediction
model. 1-Stop general manager of
strategy and business development,
Jeremy Chee, said joining innovative
projects helped discover what could
be achieved with data.
14 August 2019
thedcn.com.au