Transport

Road Freight

• Freight forecasts prepared by Austroads show the growth of non-bulk freight nearly doubling for Australia from 2000-2020.
• The Department of Transport and Regional Services (DoTARS) forecasts that road freight in the Sydney-Brisbane corridor will increase by 225% from 2000 to 2020, the fastest growth of the major capital city corridors.
• Road freight accounted for 81% of the Sydney-Brisbane corridor freight in 2000 and is forecast by DoTARS to increase to 97% by 2020.
• The TweedGold region is a major entry point for non-bulk road freight from Sydney to Brisbane, with the Pacific Highway carrying over 70% of the Sydney to Brisbane traffic.
• Planned upgrading of the Pacific Highway by the Commonwealth, Queensland and New South Wales Governments is likely to see further growth in the transportation corridor.
• Traffic from Queensland to New South Wales is forecast to grow faster than from New South Wales to Queensland.
• There are opportunities for lower transport costs from the region to southern markets based on back-loading rates.

Aviation And Air Freight

• There has been significant passenger growth at Gold Coast Airport over the past 4 years for both the domestic and international sectors. This growth has driven opportunities for a range of businesses located at the airport.
• Nearly 20% of the passengers through Gold Coast Airport are on business or convention based trips.
• Murwillumbah Airstrip provides an all-weather capability and hangarage for light aircraft.
• Planned extension of the runway at the Gold Coast Airport will provide the potential for growth in freight capacity to international destinations. For example an Airbus A330 -300 could carry from 7-14 tonnes of containerised air freight to Singapore in a direct flight, depending on flight configuration.
• The Gold Coast Airport has customs and bonding facilities, which have the capacity to generate considerable cost savings in both time and freight costs.
• Opportunities exist to grow airfreight business from Gold Coast Airport for direct flights.
• Establish closer links with the Australian Trade Coast and airfreight opportunities from Brisbane Airport.

Rail

• Planned extension of the passenger rail service from Robina to Reedy Creek and then on to the Gold Coast Airport will improve regional connectivity.
• Further future light rail connections between the Tweed and facilities at Gold Coast Airport, linking NSW to Queensland are being evaluated.
• The retention of the Murwillumbah rail corridor alignment provides future growth opportunities particularly in the area of freight movements to and from southern states.

POTENTIAL RANGE FOR DIRECT FLIGHTS SERVICING GOLD COAST AIRPORT

Planned extension of the runway at the Gold Coast Airport will provide the opportunity and potential for growth in freight capacity to international destinations.

Source: Austroads and Department of Transport and Regional Services, Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics, Gold Coast Airport Limited and Tweed Economic Development Corporation.