Terminal traffic fears
An extra 21,000 trips by heavily loaded trucks will be added to already congested roads around the Anzac Bridge each year if plans for a new cement terminal at White Bay are approved. The proposed A$32million terminal at White Bay wharf in Balmain, Sydney, Australia would distribute 500,000t of dry cement and would operate 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.
The planned facility includes a 30m-tall, 40,000t dome to hold the cement, a warehouse for extra storage and six silos to load the cement on to trucks. The cement would be brought in on ships and stored before being dispatched. Melbourne-based company Independent Cement and Lime put an environmental assessment on exhibition with the Department of Planning last month.
IC&L estimates 12 shiploads of cement would be brought to the site in the first year of operation, while 29 trucks a day would enter and leave the terminal. In five years, when the plant is running at full capacity, those figures would rise to 18 ships a year and 43 trucks a day. Local residents say the trucks would put further pressure on already congested roads. "I think it’ll be fairly disastrous," White Bay joint steering committee spokeswoman Jane Marceau said. "It will spill into other areas because 100per cent of the cement is destined for NSW."
IC&L group general manager Michael Byrne said while an "infinitesimal" number of extra trucks would use the roads around the Anzac Bridge, it would mean fewer trucks travelling around the rest of Sydney.
"The whole reason we’re there is that we’ll reduce the amount each tonne travels, so we’re saving the rest of Sydney the problem," he said. "We’re trying to minimise the amount of time the trucks are on the roads."
Ms Marceau said residents are also concerned about the noise generated by the plant, although an environmental assessment found there would be no marked increase in noise. She said residents were not against a working harbour. Submissions on the development can be made to the Department of Planning until the 10th April.
Published under Cement News
