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Perhaps at last, the golden era of the West Coast has finally dawned.
The current hot topic there is coal and over the next few years a lot of new mines are due to come on stream, with millions of tonnes of this valuable resource set to flow out of the region.
The logistics problems of actually getting this product to the world markets are huge but not insurmountable. The planning for this should have been started years ago, but wasn’t.
We could sit around for years debating the pros and cons of this system or that one, but I believe that the solution needs to be a mixture of many forms of transport; the predicament is probably too big for any one mode.
As an old trucker the last thing I would normally do is defend the NZ rail system, but ever since 1908 and the opening of the Otira rail tunnel, NZ Rail in its ever evolving, declining and renamed state has been the lifeline of the Coast with 25% of all rail freight moving on the Midland line.
The LTSA has recently commissioned a report by Australian rail consultants Kellogg, Brown and Root, who inspected Rail’s maintenance and safety records, and the bridges, tunnels and line between Ngakawau, Greymouth and Lyttleton. The report makes sober reading but has told us nothing new, the system’s knackered and will not last more than a couple of years without spending $70 million to keep this lifeline safe and secure.
So let’s do it, let’s stop mucking about, roll up our collective sleeves and get on with it.
Approximately 2 million tonnes of coal moves on this line every year, and this could double if the line was repaired and restored. If a small surcharge of say $3.50 per tonne was collected, the return on investment would be complete within five years.
Another option for moving some of this mountain of black gold is to truck it to Greymouth and barge it out of the mouth of the Grey River. Now that surely does warm the heart of an Old Trucker.
Naturally, the thought of all these truck and trailer units trundling past the tourist hotels in Greymouth every fifty eight seconds, night and day, seven days a week, does not endear this proposal with the very people who have kept the Coast alive for the last ten years and the tourism operators have a very valid point.
So a new road must be built around the CBD and it needs to be started now.
Barges hold around 6000 tonnes of coal at a time and whether or not there is enough space at Greymouth Port to stock pile the huge amounts required is another question. Crossing the notorious Grey River bar in an empty flat bottomed barge may rule this option out altogether however, requiring the coal to be transported to Westport and barged from there.
Yet another option would be to build a “State of the Art” coal fired power station on the coast and feed the by-product of the coal, i.e. electricity, out of the coast via a new transmission line.
While there are big problems associated with these solutions that need immediate action and large amounts of money to resolve, they’re good problems because they will lead to long over due investment in one of the most beautiful, and long neglected parts of our country. The solutions will also result in full employment, redevelopment of tired shopping centers, new port facilities, roading and countless new commercial opportunities for everyone.
The Coasters are traditionally their own masters and will always do things their own way; and this is exactly as it should be. What the rest of us need to do quickly is support them in every way we can to get the job done.
But then, this is just an “old trucker’s point of view”
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