NORTHERN TERRITORY NEWS, Thursday, August 9, 2007
The sustainable transport solution of coastal shipping is taking a greater role in servicing the transport needs of the Northern Territory’s resource, business and construction sectors.
Coastal shipping operator Seacorp, which had provided shipping services to Darwin since January 2006, reports that marine transport is winning an increasing share of the cargo task between the Northern Territory and Perth.
Seacorp Coastal Shipping is the only licensed shipping carrier for the transport route between Perth and Darwin and currently carries 14 per cent of total trade, by road and sea, on the route.
However, managing director Craig Thompson said the introduction of a new ship to the service in July would enable Seacorp to cater for a larger share of the freight task on the vital northern transport corridor.
Mr Thompson said that while road transport traditionally carried the lion’s share of cargo, coastal shipping was steadily winning more business.
In just over a year of operating the coastal shipping service, Seacorp had quadrupled its customer base and broadened the mix of cargo types it carried.
Seacorp had partnered with major resource and construction companies in transporting awkward and oversized cargoes for resource projects to remote destinations off the Western Australian and Northern Territory coastline.
“We have embraced logistical feats that only shipping would be capable of,” Mr Thompson said.
In July, Seacorp took delivery of the Kimberley Rose, a vessel which makes regular calls to Darwin, as well as to remote destinations off the coast, such as the Tiwi Islands.
Mr Thompson said it was the first time in more than two decades that a larger vessel had been put on the coastal shipping service to the Northern Territory.
He said the new vessel, which had been previously operating in the Red Sea, offered an additional 20 per cent cargo handling capacity to the SCS Anne, the vessel it replaced.
The Kimberly Rose is capable of lifting single cargo pieces up to 160 metric tones and awkward and over dimensional cargo up to 70m long.
Like its predecessor, the Kimberly Rose can carry containers, break bulk, heave lift, over dimensional, hazardous and dry bulk cargo.
Mr Thompson said coastal shipping, which was now supported by efficient port systems along the coastline, delivered considerable economic, environmental and logistical efficiencies for transport users.
He believed there was scope to eventually upgrade to a two-ship service offering weekly shipping services to ports along the Perth – Darwin transport corridor.
“With the right support by way of long-term transport planning through both state and Government authorities, it is possible to eventually upgrade to a two-ship service able to lift up to 40 per cent of the total transport requirements,” Mr Thompson said.
“We’re an island nation with endless miles of coastline around it and some excellent port infrastructure.
“But unfortunately shipping is not used to its maximum capacity here.”
Mr Thompson said Australia’s national policymakers defied trends in other parts of the world to make greater use of coastal shipping as a means to reduce the transport sector’s high-carbon emissions.
“By contrast, WA’s Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan has shown a far more progressive approach and has shown enormous support for coastal shipping.”
This article has been reprinted with the permission of NT News.
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