Leading freight and logistics company Qube Holdings Limited is developing the nationally-significant Moorebank Logistics Park to remove emissions-intensive trucks from Australian roads by increasing the use of rail networks to distribute containerised freight to and from Port Botany.
The Moorebank project is aiming to switch the movement of 1.55 million freight containers at Port Botany from road to rail, with an estimated annual abatement of more than 110,000 tCO₂e in transport-related emissions.
The switch to rail transport, when operating at scale, will cut an estimated 3,000 truck journeys a day from Sydney's road network, particularly the M5. It will also reduce the number of regular Sydney-Brisbane and Sydney-Melbourne truck freight trips.
The first stage of the project was awarded an “Excellent” Design Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) rating from the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA).
The project was recognised for achieving the largest carbon saving on a single IS-rated project due to its high degree of automation and its management of urban heat island effects – implementing measures to achieve a 4ºC decrease in temperature, compared to neighbouring industrial developments.
The project achieved a world first in innovative technology, due to its high degree of automation. This includes automated gantry cranes, straddle carriers, sortation systems and terminal operating systems. Automation reduces energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, enhances safety, minimizes environmental impacts, improving productivity and economic output.
The IS Rating Scheme is Australia and New Zealand’s only comprehensive rating system for evaluating sustainability across infrastructure programs, projects, networks and assets. The tool evaluates the sustainability performance of the quadruple-bottom-line (Governance, Economic, Environmental and Social) of infrastructure development.
The Moorebank Logistics Park is being developed across 243 hectares in south-western Sydney, taking advantage of its location near the Southern Sydney Freight Line, M5 and M7 motorways and in an area of rapid population and economic growth.
Construction of the first stage of the project features a distribution centre for Target Australia. The nearly 40,000 square metre warehouse will support 3MW of rooftop solar to generate energy for use onsite – one of the largest single roof top solar arrays in the southern hemisphere.
Work has been completed on the rail access link and infrastructure that will connect the site’s Import-Export (IMEX) terminal to the existing Southern Sydney Freight Line. During construction, the project has used an onsite concrete crusher to recycle demolition concrete waste into paving material – reducing demand for new concrete as well as cutting the emissions associated with transporting the waste off site.
By 2030, the intermodal facility at Moorebank Logistics Park is aiming to:
New South Wales, Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities, Transport, Renewable energy, Low emissions, Energy efficiency , Energy efficiency
