Victorian Minister for Ports and Freight, Melissa Horne, and the CEO of Intermodal Terminal Company, Mishkel Maharajwas, launched the construction works for the Somerton freight terminal located in Somerton, a suburb in the northern part of the capital.
The new terminal is expected to be completed in 2025. ITC aims to build a national portfolio of terminals with its first being the AUD 400 million (USD 265.4 million) development of the Somerton Intermodal Terminal.
The terminal is being built at the 45-hectare Austrak Business Park and is forecast to create 400 jobs during construction and a further 90 permanent jobs for Victorians when operational in 2025.
In the first phase, the capacity of the Somerton terminal is expected to reach 1 million TEUs and under the second phase of its development the facility will handle up to 2 million TEUs. It will be Melbourne’s closest terminal to accommodate double-stacked 1,800 metre trains.
It follows the start of services between the SCT Logistics Interstate Freight Facility in Altona and the Port of Melbourne last month in a major milestone for the Port Rail Shuttle Network.
The Somerton terminal will increase efficiency as well as safety for producers, farmers, freight operators and exporters.
When at capacity, ITC expects the Somerton Intermodal Terminal to take 500,000 truck trips off Melbourne’s roads, equivalent to 454 million truck kilometres. Each year, it will also save 451 million litres of fuel and reduce carbon emissions by 189,000 tonnes.
The Somerton freight terminal will be the endpoint for Inland Rail in Melbourne and the northern part of the Port Rail Shuttle Network.
The new Melbourne freight terminal is a priority of the AUD 58 million (USD 38.4 million) Port Rail Shuttle Network project supported by the governments of Australia and Victoria.
Port Rail Shuttle Network will enable trucks to deliver or pick up containers from hubs in outer metropolitan Melbourne instead of driving to the Port of Melbourne, which is in turn investing AUD 125 million (AUD 82.9 million) in new rail infrastructure to cater for these shuttle trains.
“The investment by the State and Federal Governments and the private sector into the Port Rail Shuttle Network, enables these major investments to occur which will put more freight onto rail, take trucks off local roads and support exporters,” Melissa Horne said.
Share on:
