Following months of facing high demand in the empty container parks (ECPs) in Sydney by carriers and customers for empty container de-hire, NSW Ports has introduced temporary dedicated truck queuing areas.
NSW Ports said the high demand has at times resulted in lengthy truck queues outside of the ECPs and onto port roads.
On a nearly daily basis, both Simblist and Friendship roads have accommodated truck queues and at times these ranks have not only caused serious congestion but have also created potential safety issues.
NSW Ports said that despite requests to ECPs to manage the throughput and demand for empty container de-hire trucks, the size of the truck queues for some ECPs has on days become excessive, which is not only creating hazardous traffic management conditions, but is also impacting on the safe and productive operations of other tenants in Port Botany.
As a result, NSW Ports has decided to act by issuing the following port operator direction to all truck drivers using port roads at Port Botany, in accordance with the Notice of Port Operator Direction No. 2 of 2020. The following directions set out reasonable and practicable steps within NSW Ports’ control which will be implemented, effective from 13 January 2021. These arrangements are temporary and will continue until further notice:
- NSW Ports has designated specific areas on port roads for use by truck drivers in which they can stop/queue and thereby rank while seeking to access specific ECPs
- NSW Ports will put in place signage and line markings to clearly identify the specific truck queuing areas
- Any truck which cannot physically queue entirely within the specific area designated for that ECP will be directed to leave the port precinct immediately
- If a truck driver fails to follow the lawful direction to leave the port precinct immediately, enforcement action will be taken against the truck driver and/or owner of the truck/trailer
The suite of NSW Ports’ Port Operator Directions are available here.
