Newcastle's container terminal has to be more than Sydney's traffic fix

Any Newcastle container terminal should be about more than simply taking the pressure off Botany and Port Kembla, one reader writes.

GREG Cameron (Letters, 18/11): there is a fundamental mistake in your correspondence where you suggest that there needs to be a dedicated rail freight line between Newcastle and Sydney. The fundamental error is that a successful Newcastle container terminal will operate independently from Port Botany and from Port Kembla. This new terminal will never fix the awful truck and freight train traffic chaos at and around Port Botany, nor should it be designed to do so.

All the published statistics show, 80 per cent of the container trade in and out of Port Botany occurs in and around the Sydney basin. The Port of Newcastle container trade will only ever be one quarter to one third the size of the capacity of Port Botany and Port Kembla. For a successful Hunter terminal to operate, it will draw all its export trade from Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, northern NSW, and northwest NSW.