Supporting the future road freight task in North-West WA

This research will provide insights into the transport infrastructure needed to ensure the road freight transport network can continue to support the substantial freight task in Australia’s North-West, now and into the future.

The project is intended to update freight movement forecasts with associated road freight network implications for Australia’s North-West, focusing on the Pilbara and Kimberley regions.

Given significant changes in the resources industry landscape since previous forecasts undertaken in 2011, there is a need to account for substantial increases in the inbound logistics demand due to growth in the iron ore sector and resulting construction-related activities, as well as future trends in commodities and renewable energy industries.

Accordingly, this research aims to understand current and future flows of freight, based on an analysis of future trends in mining, oil and gas and renewable energy industries, and impacts on the road freight network.

Analysing future trends of freight movement in relation to current capacity of the road system, this study will identify potential constraints on the network and propose strategic options to support planned development.

Participants

• Department of Transport (WA)
• Main Roads Western Australia
• Edith Cowan University
• University of Western Australia

Project background

The volume of the construction, development, and operations of the Pilbara resource export industries, including the renewable energy industries, demands millions of tonnes of freight to be transported each year (Beyond Zero Emissions, 2020).

Changing trends in trade and economic conditions have a rebound effect on freight flows. Maintaining efficient freight flows are important to business in limiting the total cost of freight transport and lead times.

For government and society more generally, road congestion and bottlenecks yield economic disbenefits in the form of direct transport costs as well as indirect costs of road incidents, climate change, social costs of climate change, and air pollution (Aschauer and Starkl, 2010), resulting in competitive disadvantages for the entire region.

It is thus critical to monitor trends in the economic activity affecting freight tasks to ensure that infrastructure keeps pace. In Western Australia (WA), the North-West is important for mining and oil and gas with massive inbound logistics needs to support construction activities as well as ongoing support of mining activities.

Over 90% of the Pilbara freight transportation originates from or passes through Perth (Australian Floating Decks Pty Ltd, 2018). In line with this expectation, it is important to analyse the trends in freight demand and road usage by industries operating in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions, such as construction, mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy, identify potential issues and challenges including bottlenecks in the road transport freight network and offer options for resolving these concerns to improve the utilisation of road freight transportation in Australia’s North-West.

In analysing these identified trends, attention will be given to developing an understanding of the efficacy and impact of the new routes being used for freight offloaded at Pilbara Ports and provide an assessment of how the freight task may have changed or be challenged by, the utilisation of the port.

Since the last freight transport outlook undertaken for the Pilbara and Kimberley Iron Ore and LNG sectors in 2011 (internal technical paper, DoT WA, Matthews, 2011), there have been significant changes in the resources industry landscape. Growth in the iron ore sector and resulting construction-related activities has resulted in substantial increases in the inbound logistics demand, with further increases expected due to future trends in commodities and renewable energy industries.

There is thus a need to provide an updated understanding of current and future freight flows. This understanding will be based on an analysis of recent and future trends in mining, oil and gas and renewable energy industries, and impacts on the road freight network.

Strategic, operational and infrastructure options to resolve bottlenecks together with identifying and examining the social and environmental considerations such as the impact on the freight task from community and tourism use of the roads, disruption created by intense climatic events (flooding, road wash outs) and major routes passing through small communities, are required to provide insights into the transport infrastructure needed to ensure the road freight transport network can continue to support the substantial freight task in Australia’s North-West, now and into the future.

Project objectives

This project aims to provide insights into road transport infrastructure needs to ensure the road freight transport network can continue to adequately support the substantial freight task in Australia’s North-West, now and into the future by:

1. Understanding and forecasting the future demand and resulting flows on the road freight transport network (what the network will need to carry, where, how much, and by what means) by analysing trends in freight transportation demands from industries currently and potentially operating in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions such as construction, mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy;
2. Assessing the capacity of the road freight transport network from the number of movements, volumes, type and how these impact the functionality of the road system to adequately support the forecast demand, identifying network bottlenecks and constraints; and
3. Proposing strategic network operational and infrastructure options to resolve bottlenecks, including solutions such as infrastructure upgrades, or alternative import routes such as greater utilisation of direct imports through Pilbara ports instead of relying on road transport from Perth.

Please note …

This page will be a living record of this project. As it matures, hits milestones, etc., we’ll continue to add information, links, images, interviews and more. Watch this space!