Today marks the first sod turn at one of Australia’s most important freight infrastructure projects, the Moorebank Logistics Park.
Minister for Finance Mathias Cormann and Minister for Infrastructure & Transport Darren Chester today unveiled the official commencement of the Moorebank Logistics Park after months of pre-construction and remedial works.
Part of the new freight hub involves the construction of a direct rail link to Port Botany, with rail operations expected to begin in late 2018.
The development also includes 850,000 square metres of high specification warehousing and the capacity to transport up to 1.05 million import-export and 500,000 interstate containers every year.
Developed and operated by Qube Holdings the Moorebank Logistics Park is expected to deliver $11 billion in economic benefits over the next 30 years, including $120 million a year for the economy of western Sydney.
Furthermore, the Moorebank Logistics Park will remove thousands of heavy truck movements from Sydney’s roads and the nation’s highways. It is expected that the total distance travelled by trucks in Sydney will be reduced by approximately 60,000km per day by 2030.
During construction over 1,300 jobs will be created and once fully operational as many as 6,800 workers will be needed at the facility.
Operation of the export-import facility is expected to commence in late 2018, with the interstate terminal opening in 2020.