Push grows for dedicated rail connection to city port

STEAM is building for a dedicated freight rail connection to Brisbane’s port with freehold developable land in the Australia TradeCoast precinct hitting a critical shortage.

According to a new Colliers International report, the scarcity of available land in the trade hub is increasingly displacing industrial operators needing access to international markets.

“Hence, there is a need to improve connectivity between the other industrial precincts,” it states. The report deems infrastructure for a dedicated freight rail connection to the port as “critical to maintaining the competitiveness of the international trading activity in Southeast Queensland”.

Colliers national director of industrial Anthony White said the latest research provided further strength to the case for rail connectivity as a means of taking pressure off southeast Queensland arterial road networks.

“Currently, it is not viable for port operators to utilise inland rail as it stops 38km from the port,” he said.

In a recent Deloitte Access Economics report for the port operator, it was estimated a dedicated freight rail connection could create an additional $820 million in economic and community benefits, while also taking 2.4 million trucks off city roads by 2035.

Infrastructure Australia considers the project a highpriority initiative and a feasibility study is being undertaken by the state and federal governments.

Colliers’ Australia TradeCoast Industrial Land Supply Report identifies only 151ha as vacant and available for industrial development on a freehold basis, outside the Port of Brisbane and Brisbane Airport.

This represents less than 25 per cent of the estimated land supply (1ha sites or above) within the precinct over the medium term.

Leasehold land availability, on the other hand, is estimated at 455ha, representing more than 75 per cent of the land available for industrial development.

“Whilst the Federal and State Governments retain ownership of the land at the airport and the port, the leasehold tenure inhibits direct investment by industrial operators or external investment vehicles,” Mr White said.