Trucks fuel toll road usage for Transurban in Queensland

TRUCKS are fuelling southeast Queensland’s toll road usage, according to operator Transurban.

A truck heads into Brisbane’s Clem7 tunnel. Picture: Steve Pohlner

TRUCKS are fuelling southeast Queensland’s toll road usage, according to operator Transurban.

The company reported that it had collected $327 million from Queensland motorists in the six months to December 31, up 1.7per cent on the same period in 2017.

Transurban’s average daily trips on its Queensland roads increased by just 0.3 per cent, boosted by a 3.7 per cent increase in large vehicles such as trucks opting to pay their way past congestion.

The most used road on the network – the Logan Motorway – saw a decline of 2.5 per cent to 167,000 average daily trips, primarily due to roadworks, while the struggling Go Between Bridge saw no growth with only 11,000 daily users.

The modest growth in Queensland came as Transurban’s first-half profit fell 61.8 per cent to $129 million after its costly acquisition of Sydney’s WestConnex motorway scheme.

Toll revenue rose 14.7 per cent following a 2.7 per cent increase in average daily traffic across the company’s roads, but various expenses and a $163 million increase in depreciation and amortisation pushed profit attributable to security holders down from $338 million a year ago.

Nonetheless, the earnings by which Transurban assesses performance rose 9.8 per cent to $1 billion and the company on Tuesday raised its interim distribution by one cent to 29 cents.

Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton told investors the low growth in Brisbane’s road usership was impacted by upgrades on the Gateway and Logan motorways, both of which are scheduled for completion by mid this year.

“So by the time we get through the full year this year and going into 2020 the disruption should be gone,” Mr Charlton said.

“The other roads, excluding those two projects, traffic growth was strong at 4.1 per cent.”

Transurban’s Queensland group executive Sue Johnson said larger vehicles were choosing tolls out of time-saving measures.

“We’re seeing a high level of truck growth, which shows that the heavy vehicle industry sees the value in the travel time savings and efficiencies that toll roads provide.”

With AAP

ON THE ROAD

Logan Mwy 167k daily trips, down 2.5 per cent ($94mil revenue)

Gateway Mwy 118k daily trips, up 0.4 per cent ($113mil revenue)

AirportlinkM7 64k daily trips, up 2.4 per cent ($63mil revenue)

Clem7 29k daily trips, up 2.4 per cent ($29 mil revenue)

Legacy Way 21k daily trips, up 7.0 per cent ($21mil revenue)

Go Between Bridge 11k trips, down 0.2 per cent ($7 mil revenue)

Source: Transurban