Curfews to Townsville and Rockhampton abattoirs for road trains should be lifted says industry

Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association vice president Athol Carter raised the issue at a state conference of livestock haulers in Townsville last week.

Currently, there is a curfew of 7am to 7pm on Type 1 road trains accessing the Teys Australia and JBS Australia abattoirs in Rockhampton, In Townsville, roads trains cannot access the JBS Australia abattoir between the hours of 7am and 9.30am, and 2.30pm and 7pm.

To travel direct to the abattoirs, road trains also operate under annual permits issued by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) and administered by the Transport and Main Roads Department.

During the day, road trains enroute to the Rockhampton abattoirs have to split up the trailers at the CQLX Gracemere saleyards while the trucks heading into Townsville have to uncouple their trailers at Stuart or the Townsville Port pads.

Mr Carter said the current system was inefficient and led to a loss of productivity.

"But, number one it's about our driver's safety and animal welfare of having leaving trailers unattended during the day and then cross load those cattle without any facilities there at Gracemere to then do two to three trips to town depending on the configuration," he said.

"So during the daylight hours, we have to split up our trailers and run in on a B Double or single semi-trailer lengths into the (Rockhampton) abattoirs.

"That can add anywhere from two to three hours (on to the trip) depending on traffic conditions and how many trailers they have."

The Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of Queensland has been lobbying to allow B-Triple access through Rockhampton since Bryson Mayne died in August 2014 while de-coupling a road train at Gracemere.

Mr Carter said it was more productive and more efficient to do more with less and that was why they used high productivity vehicles and road train combinations.

"These road trains (heading to Rockhampton) have started their journey somewhere in the morning somewhere in Central Queensland and beyond and if you get here (to Rockhampton) at 5 o'clock in the afternoon you then have to start splitting up your trailers to run in or wait until 7 o'clock at night," he said.

"But we don't have that time (to spare) due to driver fatigue etc to turn around and go back to another job."

Mr Carter said the industry was yet to understand the logic behind the restrictions with Transport and Main Roads.

But he said they needed to be lifted to unlock some productivity benefits for industry.

"We believe it's due to bridge conditions and things...but we as a stakeholder group have already had discussions with local members, both the processors (in Rockhampton), council, the Queensland Police Service and transport inspectors and they don't oppose lifting of the curfew."

A Transport and Main Roads spokesperson said TMR provided access to road trains along sections of the Bruce Highway to assist industry, however, the hours of access were restricted during peak periods when high traffic volumes occur.

"Curfews are in place to restrict the interaction of multi-combination vehicles with significant commuter traffic on sections of the Bruce Highway during peak travel hours. The on-road vehicle performance of road trains is not compatible with high traffic volumes and road safety would be compromised if these larger vehicles were to travel during peak traffic times," the spokesperson said.

Mr Carter said the thing was that road trains were allowed in at night and it had been argued that the roads were more congested during the day.

"But if we can do more with less and keep going through then we will have benefits for the entire community," he said.

Mr Carter said another inequity with the permit system in Rockhampton was that it did not include general freight trucks travelling through the city using the Bruce Highway to North Queensland.

"It's 2023, there's more cattle in Central Queensland than any other region in Australia and the benefits (of lifting the curfew) will far outweigh any negative impact that we have," he said.

"I want to have road trains running into Rockhampton 24 hours day, seven days a week and set ourselves a target of having this done by Beef Australia 2024, after all it's the Beef Capital of Australia and (at the moment) we can't have access to two major beef processing facilities throughout the day.

"So we need to all come together including producers and other agricultural associations and advocate for change."

Mr Carter said the Rockhampton route had been modified so that there were no problems turning corners for the road trains.

"There's been $30 million spent on intersection upgrades," he said.

"It's all in a low speed environment controlled by traffic lights and we're professional operators, we're not race car drivers. We're also carting a live animal so there's a point of difference in what we do."

The TMR spokesperson said JBS Abattoir was located south of Townsville and had direct access to the Bruce Highway.

"The Bruce Highway has the right access for B-double trucks, however, road trains require further consideration and approvals. This section of the Bruce Highway has average daily traffic volumes of 15,000 vehicles per day, with peak traffic volumes occurring during morning and afternoon peak periods. This includes school buses and school traffic, along with increasing commuter traffic to and from growing residential areas south of Townsville," the spokesperson said.

"Type 1 road train access to the Rockhampton abattoirs is between 7pm and 7am, under permit, and has been in place since 2017. The current access provided for Type 1 road train (36.5 metres) combinations can only safely be provided during periods of low traffic volumes, as the route is via the main business area of Rockhampton.

"The restriction for travel between 7pm to 7am is based on an assessment of the peak traffic periods along all sections of the route through Rockhampton."