Logistics, Real Estate , , ,

Paul Hand

Paul Hand

VICTORIA’S new roll-on, roll-off car terminal at Webb Dock West will easily be able to handle the extra volumes required after the three major Australian car manufacturers close their doors by the end of 2017.

Part of the state’s ambitious freight handling plan, the new terminal will open in a few weeks with a target capacity of 600,000 vehicles a year by 2025 and a massive one million vehicles by 2040.

That is just short of the 1.1 million vehicles currently being sold each year, of which around one million are imported through a number of ports, including Melbourne, Port Kembla, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

The new Melbourne International RoRo and Automotive Terminal (Mirrat) will be Victoria’s only car terminal after 2018 when Appleton Dock closes. Appleton Dock is operated by Australian Amalgamated Terminals (AAT), which also has an operation next to Mirrat at Webb Dock West.

After 2018 all car carriers will berth at Webb Dock West and Mirrat will take over the adjacent AAT operations under the contract it won to build and operate the new terminal. The Port of Melbourne is currently building a third berth at Webb Dock West, extending the dock to 928 metres in length.

Mirrat is a subsidiary of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, the Norwegian/Swedish shipping group that carries five million cars a year around the globe, as well as 12 million cubic metres of “high and heavy” cargoes such as tractors, trains and general equipment that can be driven or carried off on wheeled trailers.

“It is the 13th terminal owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen but is the first greenfield site established by the group,” Mirrat managing director Paul Hand told GoAuto.

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Docked and ready: Mirrat’s new Webb Dock West car terminal hosts the world’s largest car carrier, with a capacity of 8500 vehicles.

“It has been purpose built for vehicle operations and it is the first of WW’s terminals designed specifically to handle vehicles,” Mr Hand said. All the other terminals have been established docks that have been converted to RoRo operations.

Mr Hand was transferred from WW’s terminal operations at Southampton in England and is one of the company’s most experienced executives.

“I have done a lot of project work with Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics in different ports, for example Baltimore and Zeebrugge, and I have been to Korea and lots of other nice places.”

He has also worked as the port captain on ships during loading, ensuring that cars or cargo that will be first off the ships are loaded on last.

After 2018 the new terminal will be a monopoly in Victoria and will be operating under criteria set down by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). All fees charged and services offered must be the same for all ship operators, no matter whose ship is unloading at Webb Dock West, Mr Hand said.

Mirrat is still ramping up its computer systems to full operation, but the physical build is complete with a paved and/or concreted area of 178,000 square metres, including 4800 automotive “laydown bays” (parking places) and 20,000 square metres of heavy duty hardstand for items like tracked cranes and other heavy machinery.

There is also an 8000 square metre warehouse for weatherproof storage. Last weekend it housed some steel and also a small motor show comprising a shipment of Aston Martins, Maseratis and a few Porsches. The Ford Mustangs were in the open air.

When Mirrat assumes responsibility for the whole of Webb Dock West in 2018, the terminal will cover 359,000 square metres and have 11,000 laydown bays.

It is unlikely that the throughput will reach one million cars a year in the near future, but Mr Hand said that throughput was not the only criteria for financial success.

He said Mirrat would also offer some additional services to all importers, not just Wallenius Wilhelmsen.

Importers could sometimes use the terminal for short-term storage or they might want other services, such as washing cars or checking batteries.

“For instance, if an importer wants to rent 50 spaces for 100 days, then we could do a reduced rate. But that would have to be available to every OEM (car-maker).”

The new roll-on, roll-off car terminal at Webb Dock West in Melbourne will have a capacity of 600,000 vehicles by 2020, according to its operator.

The new roll-on, roll-off car terminal at Webb Dock West in Melbourne
will have a capacity of 600,000 vehicles by 2020, according to its operator.

Apart from its planned throughput, the new terminal will also set standards in terms of being purpose designed with all the latest systems and standards.

Part of the tender involved the creation of a truck booking system to help control the arrival of trucks and calm truck traffic around the port. There are 16 truck waiting bays on the Mirrat site.

“It is a change to the way the industry is working at the moment. Systems like this are used in container terminals, so I don’t think it is going to be that much of a surprise (to drivers).”

Waiting truck drivers will have access to a coffee shop near their parking bay outside the protected Customs compound if they have time to spare before their allocated pick-up time while the stevedore’s drivers, who actually drive the cars off the ships and onto the laydown area, will also have a serviced rest area inside the Customs compound.

Webb Dock West has already been visited by the world’s largest car carrier, the Hoegh Target, which is 200 metres long and can carry 8500 cars. Most car freighters carry between 4000 and 6000 cars.

Mr Hand said not all cars are discharged at the one port, as the vessels berth in several ports on their way around the Australian coast. The average discharge in Melbourne was around 1000 vehicles.

Mirrat is not involved in the loading or unloading of cars so Mr Hand is not able to say how long it takes to discharge 1000 cars. That is up to the stevedoring company hired by the ship operator.

The only hail netting on the site is in the area still run by AAT and it is there to protect Toyota Camrys being exported to the Middle East from the Altona factory.

“If there was an industry requirement for it, we would put it in,” he said. “There just isn’t the demand for it here.”

Mr Hand said WW wanted the new terminal to be as environmentally friendly as possible and this aim influenced every part of the project.

He said there was a distinctive odour when the builders dumped thousands of tonnes of crushed wine bottles to act as the sub-base for the asphalt. In all, 200,000 tonnes of recycled materials were used.

Photo-voltaic panels on the warehouse provide 80 per cent of the electricity used by the administration building, CO2 emissions caused by the production of concrete were reduced by the addition of fly-ash and other substitutes and LED lighting throughout the terminal will use 30 per cent less power than normal lighting.

“We also have the ability to harvest two million litres of rain water from the warehouse roof, if it ever rains again.”

By Ian Porter

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