Truckies in for the long haul as calls grow to boost remote transport resilience

Interstate truck drivers are being forced into 7200km detours as floods cause havoc on the regional network.

Flood damaged roads and bridges in Western Australia’s Kimberley are forcing road train drivers to re-route thousands of kilometres to forward freight from Perth to remote northwest Western Australia.

The drive between Perth and Fitzroy Crossing, one of the towns impacted by floods, is 2400km direct.

But the 6000km enforced detour from Perth to northwest WA via South Australia and the Northern Territory is almost three times the distance.

Perth to Port Augusta is 2000km, Port Augusta to Katherine is another 2000km and there is a further 2000km hop from Katherine to Fitzroy Crossing.

The regular Perth-Fitzroy Crossing run

The 12,000km round trip means the total length of the detour is a whopping 7200km.

By comparison, the distance between Darwin and Vladivostok in eastern Russia is 6153km.

It could be up to 18 months before the problem is fixed.

Floods in WA in early January poured record amounts of water into the Fitzroy River that developed into a 50km-wide inland sea.

This destroyed the Fitzroy Crossing bridge, inundated the town’s airport and blocked the Great Northern Highway.

The detour takes drivers and roadtrains through the NT

Trucking companies in the Territory and WA rallied behind the communities they serve and when roads re-opened began the herculean job of hauling essentials into some of the remotest towns in Australia.

Western Roads Federation chief executive Cam Dumesny said aside from the toll on individual drivers, the additional trip time meant there were fewer drivers available in the entire haulage sector.

In addition, while rules around driver fatigue in the Territory and WA are less restrictive, drivers have to pass through South Australia where they have a much tighter regimen.

For instance, drivers in NT and WA can drive for 14 hours a day, while in SA they must rest after 12 hours.

“The national regulations around speed and fatigue are very prescriptive but in WA and the NT we run more flexible fatigue hours because it’s harder to find a suitable rest area to get off the road,” Mr Dumesny said.

The collapsed Fitzroy Crossing Bridge. Image: Main Roads Western Australia.

Matters were further complicated last month when Kimberley communities were literally stranded when the Territory flooded.

Parts of the Stuart Hwy and Victoria highways between the Buntine Hwy and WA border were inundated and blocked for several weeks meaning freight had to be flown in from Perth or barged from Darwin.

“This isn’t just about the Kimberley, at the end of the day it’s about Perth and Darwin,” Mr Dumesny said.

“Can you imagine on the east coast if you had a direct route between two capital cities cut off? It would be quickly fixed and freight would continue as normal.

“What it comes down to is we’re a long way from Canberra here.”

Cam Dumesny, chief executive of the Western Roads Federation. Horiz. Supplied

Mr Dumesny called for enhanced freight resilience for NT and WA transport infrastructure beginning with sealing the Tanami Rd, which is a direct route between Alice Springs and the Kimberley.

He said consideration should also be given to sealing the Great Central Rd between Laverton in WA and Yulara in the NT, and the Tarcoola to Darwin railway line should also be raised at floodprone areas.

“It’s not acceptable in this day and age for the NT to be cut off as frequently as it has been,” he said.

“We’ve had roads washed away, the rail blocked and it’s becoming more frequent but nothing is being done to harden them up.”

The federal government has committed $740m to upgrades to the Tanami Rd and Central Arnhem Rd.