Region/Countries: Australia, Australia and New Zealand Industry: Other Date: September 2018

Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: A recently released plan calls for spending $3.6 billion on infrastructure upgrades in the state of New South Wales over the next five years.

The NSW Freight and Ports Plan 2018-2023, released in September 2018, presents a strategy to drive economic growth by delivering more than $3.6 billion ($5 billion Australian) worth of infrastructure specific to the freight and ports sector in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). As part of this process, the government is seeking to increase efficiency, connectivity, capacity, safety and sustainability of the freight network.

Wisconsin firms with products or services within the broader freight and logistics sector should view this significant increase in government spending as a prime opportunity to enter the Australian market.

To achieve this objective, Transport for NSW will enact over 70 initiatives through the implementation plan. Wisconsin exporters can view the full list of initiatives that the government has either committed to delivering or is investigating. We have listed below some of the key initiatives that may be of interest to Wisconsin firms:

  • Duplication of Botany rail line – Port Botany is set to become Australia’s largest container port by volume in the next 30 years. The duplication of the rail line will involve construction of new track as well as the duplication of three existing single-track bridges and associated signaling.
  • Upgrading railways – Aims to relieve bottlenecks by upgrading parts of the regional network. $288 million ($400 million Australian) in funding has been allocated to this program.
  • Western Sydney Fuel Pipeline – Currently undertaking preliminary work to identify suitable route options for a fuel pipeline corridor to Western Sydney Airport and the surrounding area

Inland Rail is a nationally significant freight program for the eastern states of Australia. The NSW component of this major work includes 1,047 km of new rail, and is being constructed and led by the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC). The ARTC has a contractor information section on its website, which we encourage Wisconsin exporters to review to see if there are opportunities for them to work one of Australia’s leading rail contractors.  The key industry event is Ausrail, which in 2018 will be held in Canberra Nov. 27-28.