LINX making strides at Enfield

A startup’s mentality, a century’s experience

Rail Express spoke with port and logistics company LINX Cargo Care Group, about the young company’s long history, its Enfield Intermodal Terminal operation, and the state of Australia’s freight market.

LINX CARGO CARE GROUP (LINX CCG) was formed in 2016 through the break-up and sale of ASX-listed logistics giant Asciano. In what amounted to one of Australia’s largest corporate takeovers, Asciano was divested into three businesses: Patrick, Pacific National, and LINX CCG.

Majority-owned by global alternative asset manager Brookfield, LINX CCG says it aims to provide a formidable network of ports and logistics expertise, with assets strategically positioned throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Divisions of LINX CCG include bulk-logistics and warehousing business LINX, along with New Zealand forestry logistics business C3, forestry handling and processing business Pederson Group, automotive transporter Autocare, and Victoria’s second-largest port, GeelongPort. LINX’s Executive GM for Customer & Business Development, Carlo Cutinelli, says the company combines the mentality

of a startup, with the rare advantage of more than 100 years of port and logistics experience.

Opening his conversation with Rail Express, Cutinelli echoes the mantra of the Group’s CEO Anthony Jones: “We organize everything for you, planning right through to execution.”

“We’re about partnering with our customers and offering them tailored solutions,” Cutinelli says. “We’re a diverse group. We can offer a number of services

across our businesses. Hard commodities, soft commodities and containerised, we package up our suite of services for our customers, and let them decide which ones they want to take advantage of.” Cutinelli’s 17 years of experience in the sector includes past senior roles at Pacific National, Toll Holdings, and SCT Logistics. For LINX, he’s helped spearhead a push to grow intermodal operations in Western Sydney, where the company last year took on operations at the NSW Ports-owned Enfield Intermodal Terminal.

Container movements at Port Botany are forecast to rise from two million teu (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2011, to seven million teu in 2031. Without a significant increase in the share of containers arriving at or leaving the port via rail, Infrastructure NSW has said the port risks seeing a four-fold increase in truck traffic in that timeframe. NSW Ports says intermodal terminals like Enfield, and the associated services offered by companies like LINX will be crucial to driving more freight off roads, and onto rail. Since taking over at Enfield, Cutinelli says LINX has seen much early success.

“We’ve had a lot of traction, and a lot of customers have come onboard since we took over. We’re running daily services into all the stevedores at Port Botany, we’ve got sub-tenants on our terminal site, and we recently signed up ACFS as the empty container park operator at the site.”

While throughput at Enfield is strong, there is still room for growth.

“There’s some areas we’ll probably expand in the short- to medium-term [but] from a ground rent point of view it’s nearing where we want it to be,” Cutinelli explains. “But capacity wise, it’s still got a lot of room to grow so far as the rail port shuttle goes. The terminal’s capacity is 300,000 teu per annum . We’re not near that, but we’re well on the way to getting there.”

NSW Ports and other businesses are building up warehouse and logistics operations in the vicinity of Enfield, to further harness this growth potential. Cutinelli says LINX is eager to be an active supporter of NSW Ports in its push for more and better rail access at Port Botany.

“We’re very much supporting them, and we’re talking to a lot of exporters further up-country – some as far out as Central West NSW – and trying to encourage them towards any road to rail conversion,” he explains. “Then they can harness that by going through Enfield via rail to Port Botany. “On top of that we’re talking to businesses in our catchment area, around Enfield in Western

ABOVE: The Enfield terminal is operated by LINX on behalf of NSW Ports.

ABOVE: Carlo Cutinelli is LINX’s Executive GM for Customer & Business Development.

LEFT: LINX Cargo Care Group operates rail shuttles between Port Botany and its intermodal terminal at Enfield.

ABOVE: Caption left

Sydney. We’re actively talking to the wharf cartage providers and transport providers, and engaging with the beneficial freight owners, to try to get them to convert from road to rail to reduce congestion.”

Encouraging demand, then meeting it Despite the enthusiasm from NSW Ports and local residents to see fewer trucks around Port Botany, Cutinelli is unsure legislation or other regulatory interference is required to force more containers onto rail. Given appropriate investment in proper infrastructure, he says rail should be seen by more customers as the better option, without market interference.

NSW Ports in November 2018 announced a $120 million project for new on-dock rail infrastructure at Patrick’s terminal at Port Botany. This, the company said, will be followed with similar projects at the port’s two other terminals. Additionally, the Federal Government has committed $400 million to duplicate the final 2.9 kilometres of single track on the railway into the port. “Once that is done it puts us on a really good path to increasing the rail growth versus road growth in regards to container volume share,” Cutinelli says. “It’s similar to the Inland Rail project. Once we make the commitment to build this capacity and access, I don’t believe legislation is needed at this point in time. I think the rail efficiency will play its part once the infrastructure is laid down.”

The other major effort is convincing the freight sector that rail is as reliable as road. “I think we’ve come a long way to improving the reliability of rail,” he says. “That’s not just LINX, it is industrywide work to improve the profile of rail.”

While there’s a lot of talk around the country about new intermodal developments, Cutinelli says with the right approach the industry can avoid oversaturating the market.

“There’s a lot of talk about a lot of intermodal terminals around the country, but the beauty of it is the volumes and the beneficial freight owners will determine which ones get up, and which ones don’t,” he says.

“From the LINX perspective, we’re very much driven around where our customers go. The terminals going up are the ones where

ABOVE: Unloading operations underway at Enfield.

“Once we make the commitment to build this capacity and access, I don’t believe legislation is needed at this point in time. I think the rail efficiency will play its part once the infrastructure is laid down ”

providers like LINX partner with the customers, the exporters, to build those terminals and offer those services. “So there’s a lot being talked about, but we’re very much behind the scenes talking to our customers, looking to partner with them, and having a go at what they want.”

LINX around the country LINX has a strong presence in the Riverina region of southwestern New South Wales, centered around a major transport hub connecting the region’s exporters with the Port of Melbourne.

“We’re looking at expanding our footprint in the Riverina, in Griffith, from a rail terminal perspective, and we’re currently servicing that region’s exporters through to the Port of Melbourne on a daily basis – four-five times per week,” Cutinelli says. “That’s something we’ll look to grow, to increase that rail share.”

Elsewhere, the company is looking at expansion in other states, Cutinelli says, to “replicate the Enfield model”. “In the short-term WA’s on our radar, and in the longer term we’ll look at places like Brisbane and any other sites that come up,” he concludes.

ABOVE: Cutinelli says continued investment in portside rail access will help terminals like Enfield succeed.

BELOW: While there are a lot of prospective intermodal developments around the country, only the most viable will receive support from freight customers.