The Port of Melbourne is Australia’s largest container and general cargo port. It handles over 3.2 million 20-foot equivalent containers annually. Every day it receives over 900 new motor vehicles into the country. However, with Victoria’s population set to almost double by 2056, these freight and intermodal demands are set to grow. And given Australia’s recent supply chain woes, ensuring the smooth transition of goods in and out of the country is now more essential than ever.
Cue the Port Rail Transformation Project. A key part of Port of Melbourne’s growth strategy, this Future ReadyTM project aims to meet several community needs. The main goals being to increase rail terminal capacity and to improve the port’s connection with the Victorian rail system, so that more containers can be moved by rail rather than by truck. This is driven by pressure to reduce road congestion and truck movement, which is a notable issue in Melbourne’s inner western suburbs, but also further afield as goods travel towards their destinations.
In late 2021, after a competitive bidding process, WSP was appointed as the design consultant to work on this upgrade alongside contractor Seymour Whyte Construction. With multiple stakeholders, a complex design and short timeline, the project presented a fascinating puzzle for our experts to piece together. To discuss this (and how WSP helped embed sustainability into the design) we sat down with three of the project leads: Associate Project Manager Melanie Cameron, Principal Maritime Engineer Tom Crawford-Condie and Maritime Executive Simon Blake.
Collaboration is key
The Port Rail Transformation Project initially required WSP to deliver its design documentation in just 12 weeks, with a preliminary submission at the 6-week mark. To do this, the first puzzle piece was to create a collaborative culture, as teams would be working across WSP, Seymour Whyte and the Port of Melbourne. Some 250+ project team members needed to seamlessly collaborate on complex workflows.
While the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase was extensive, the scene was set early on with this complex program. As soon as the project came online, teams were immediately up for the challenge, working together to find the right design solutions and meet project goals.
Simon believes the results speak for themselves, saying, “I think a testament to how well this team collaborated and worked together can be seen in the current client relationship. Due to deft IT-enabled collaboration and really listening to our stakeholders, we’ve built a robust foundation with Port of Melbourne. Our teams worked in partnership brilliantly. Based on this, Port of Melbourne now sees us as trusted advisors and our work with them continues today on various port expansion and upgrade projects.”
Melanie adds, “For me, it was all about the collaboration. As project manager, I witnessed the start of an ongoing relationship with the Port of Melbourne and Seymour Whyte teams, where we could openly discuss issues and challenge each other with a forward-looking attitude. Our engineers came up with constructable solutions to quite challenging site conditions, while positioning the overall program for success. An added benefit is being able to see our emerging professionals gain first-hand insights they’ll carry with them in their careers.”
The project is staged in two phases: the planning phase, then the delivery phase. At a high level, the project’s goal was to connect the port’s Swanson Dock East international container terminal (ICT) with the Victorian freight rail network. The design included a new rail terminal adjacent to Swanson Dock East, new road and rail infrastructure and improved rail terminal operations. Such an operation requires input from many disciplines across WSP to design aspects like road lighting, utility corridors, a fire hydrant network, earthworks, pavements, drainage, road level crossings and signage.
A ground-breaking digital platform
The next piece of the puzzle was the digital platform. WSP used it to enable a collaborative environment for managing the workflow. We engaged software developer Bentley to create a dynamic ISO19650-compliant data environment. The browser-based platform was designed to foster smooth, efficient communications and reviews. The result was that we saved over 475 project hours while designing the Port Rail Transformation Project.
Tom says, “Our IT platform meant we were able to create a single source of truth that was easily accessible by everyone working on the project. The platform reduced onboarding time, and during delivery the connected environment allowed teams to easily view the 3D model, send Requests for Information (RFIs) and transmittals, produce live cross-sections and mark up 2D drawings – all within the one platform.”
The tool meant our client, the Port of Melbourne, could themselves access a consolidated view of all disciplines. This made it a dynamic way to track submissions, ensure audit trails, and see an interactive issues and comments register. For example, over 3,200 drawing comments were fixed in the software over the course of the project.
Supporting sustainability
The project’s final puzzle piece involved creating a design that aligns with Port of Melbourne’s sustainability goals – a service that WSP specialises in. Tom explains how the team achieved this: “There were a few different ways we focused on sustainability, but it was all created through WSP’s Future Ready™ framework. When coming up with the design, we used recycled materials where possible – this was mainly in the road pavements and working platform for the site. We also completed a climate change risk assessment and worked with Port of Melbourne to add mitigation measures into the design. For example, the site levels and drainage were optimised to reduce the impacts of future flooding due to sea level rise – an important concern given the site’s ocean-side location.”
Melanie adds, “There are actually multiple sustainability gains on an intermodal project like this. By taking trucks off the road and increasing the Port of Melbourne’s efficiency in moving cargo, our work is helping reduce the port’s carbon footprint.
“As Tom said, by using Future Ready we were able to bring vision and clarity to the project in this regard. We challenged our people to work collaboratively with Seymour Whyte and the Port of Melbourne to create infrastructure that is ready for today and for the future.”
For more information about WSP’s capabilities on port and intermodal projects, reach out to Maritime Executive Simon Blake.
Australia