Adelaide Airport has received a major blow.
The South Australian airport's "restrictive and antiquated" night curfew is strangling local business opportunities and constraining the State's economic development, according to a major new independent report released this week.
The South Australian Freight Council - the State's peak transport and logistics industry group - today released its latest report, entitled South Australia's Freight Transport Systems: Regulating Freight, which calls on the Federal Government to immediately review the current laws which restrict flights in and out of Adelaide's main airport between 11pm and 6am.
"South Australia is failing to maximise its true economic potential due to a restrictive and antiquated night curfew at Adelaide Airport," SA Freight Council Chairman, Mr Vincent Tremaine told Stay 247.com.
"While we recognise that the airport's metropolitan location requires measures to protect surrounding residents from unreasonable levels of noise, the state's economic prospects are being slowly eroded by this current out-dated regime," he said.
"The current Federal legislation is not striking a balance between the amenity of residents and the economic benefits to the entire State from the tourism and commodity exporting sectors.
"We keep hearing how South Australia's economy is taking off thanks to the growth of tourism, mining and the export of fresh produce - but many of these industries depend on the effective and efficient operation of state's main airport.
"Without more constructive and balanced legislation, many new opportunities will be lost to this State.
"The international and domestic airline industries also need to 'stand up and be counted', and not leave it to airport management, freight handlers and others to lobby governments on their behalf, as they will also benefit from any changes to the current restrictive regime."
The Regulating Freight report points out that noise impacts around Adelaide Airport have been significantly reduced by a noise insulation program, which has sound-proofed nearly 650 homes at a cost of more than $50 million, as well as by the introduction of quieter aircraft.
Since 2000, the Adelaide Airport Curfew Act has imposed an 11pm-6am curfew on the movement of aircraft, with the exception of planes weighing less than 34,000 kilograms which meet strict noise requirements.
Low-noise, heavy jet aircraft carrying freight can operate anytime within the curfew quota listed in the Regulations (currently 10 per night).
However, the Act only allows these specific aircraft carrying passengers to arrive (but not depart) during "shoulder periods" between11pm and midnight and 5am to 6am - and only for international flights, not domestic.
The SAFC report calls for the amendment of the Curfew Act and Regulations to ensure that passenger and freight aircraft operate under the same rules, and to remove the anomaly concerning passenger arrivals.
It also calls for flights to be allowed to depart as well as arrive during shoulder periods - and for all flights to be granted access during these periods should they be delayed "for reasons beyond their control".
The Regulating Freight report - the third in a series of authoritative 'state-of-industry' reports issued by the SAFC - makes a number of other recommendations to improve and streamline transport regulations, in order to boost the efficiency of the transport and logistics industries countrywide.
These include:
Uniform national road, rail and port regulations. Collaboration and integration between all modes of land and sea transport are needed to mitigate inconsistencies and improve the efficiency of interfaces between them.
Improving road access for larger road freight vehicles. To remain nationally and internationally competitive, there is a need for ongoing productivity growth, and a reduction in the complex and costly maze of regulations governing heavy vehicle access can deliver in this area
Port River Expressway Bridges Opening Regime. The "opening" bridges over the Port River will represent a constraint on traffic seeking to access facilities on either side of the Port River, particularly traffic moving to and from the Outer Harbor precinct. SAFC calls on the State Government to limit bridge openings so as not to disrupt freight movements.
Facilitating Oversize Overmass Vehicles (OSOM). Existing OSOM regulations have proved poorly equipped to deal with cranes, augurs and heavy mining equipment that have not been designed for Australian roads or regulations. SAFC proposes a new "regulatory flexibility" to prevent such vehicles from attracting transport bans.
Implementing a long-term State Transport Plan. South Australia does not have a Statewide Transport Plan to help it identify and tackle emerging conflicts between industry and communities. The development of a 20 to 30 year Transport Plan could help establish long-term planning priorities.
Roadside Parking on Freight Routes. Parked cars cause serious disruption to traffic flows. Government(s) should ban all parking on Principal Freight Routes, and Clearways should be able to operate 24/7 on National Highway routes including South Rd, Henley Beach Rd and Grand Junction Rd.
Climate Change and Emissions. Climate change and its impact on the community are serious issues that must be addressed to ensure longer term sustainability. However, any proposed new legislative and/or regulatory measures must be assessed in terms of their short, medium and longer term impact on the industry prior to implementation, and with extensive consultation with the industry.
Harmonizing national railway regulations. Enduring inconsistencies in the regulation of railway technical and safety standards - including discrepancies between different states' accreditation, training, and safety equipment requirements - not only hurt rail operators, but raise major enduring safety concerns.
Addressing skills shortages in the transport sector. SAFC calls on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to give greater weight to skills shortages that are threatening the future prospects of the transport and logistics sectors - and, with it, those of manufacturing, agriculture and mining.
Streamlining transport security requirements. The Regulating Freight report notes that in Australia - unlike in the United States - costs associated with the implementation and management of transport security are borne by industry (and ultimately its customers), rather than by government. SAFC proposes that different security clearance systems could be combined - and that the Federal Government should assume a greater share of the costs associated with the "common good" of transport security.
"The Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics (BTRE) has forecast that the demand on the delivery of freight will double over the 20 years to 2020," Mr Tremaine said.
"If we, as a State, are to adequately deal with that growth in demand, and maintain and national and international competitiveness, an efficient and effective regulatory regime is crucial," he said.
"The Council today offers to work closely with the Federal and State Governments to assess the impact on industry operations of these regulatory constraints, and to bring about the necessary improvements to the regulatory regime to ensure South Australia can achieve its full economic potential."
The SA Freight Council is the State's peak, multi-modal industry group that advises both the Federal and State governments on industry related issues, and is funded by both governments.
It represents road, rail, sea and air freight modes and operations, and assists the industry on issues relating to freight logistics across all modes.
|
