Battling at Port Botany 25 October 2007 | 01:03PM
Truck blues
Sir,
I guess Patrick have just been too eager maintaining and lifting their “benchmark” loading rate from/to the ships to have a look over their shoulder at the battle on the road system for trucks to get access to their loads.
Patrick will now surely pass on responsibility to the Government to “fix” the road problems.
I am not a union member or participator, but I am increasingly becoming a fan of social answers – particularly when I am weaving through container trucks while driving on my local roads.
David Anderson,
La Perouse, NSW
Adding up
Sir,
If everyone would only open their eyes they could see there is a problem there now and expanding the facility will only add 900 extra trucks per day on top of the existing 1,300-1,400 per day.
Add the Enfield issue of 1,100 semis and thousands of smaller trucks per day, how the hell does the State Government get away with saying it is reducing the number of trucks on Sydney's roads?
These figures are straight out of the Port Botany EIS and Sydney Ports Corporation.
Gary Blaschke OAM
No Port Enfield Community Group (NoPE)
Botany, NSW
.
Trying hard
SIR,
As a regular user of the Patrick Port Botany Terminal, I would like to thank the guys at this terminal for the very professional and courteous manner and compliment them on the first-rate communication flow which enables us to dovetail in with their operation so as to minimise disruption and down time to the terminal.
I read the negative press regarding the queues and delays and think that sometimes the people making these complaints might be actually overlooking the fact that the terminal is run and operated by hard working and responsible people doing the best that they can with the equipment and staff that they have available to them.
There are also external factors affecting efficiency, such as OH&S regimes, incorrect paperwork, Customs stoppers, quarantine holds and late cargo pick-ups.
It is easy to blame the terminal as a faceless entity and the weak link in the chain, but personally I have seen no evidence to support this accusation.
Matt Short,
Matthew Short & Associates,
Sydney, NSW.
