I disagree with your statement that gilmac wont have the same success as ultima if they use the last mile transport as road .

Other bigger operators succeed using road only

Its pretty much the only way now days.
Put it on a truck (A-Double) its in the wharf in 2.5 hours.
No first mile, no last mile. No timetables to match with every changing vessel schudles.
Let the rail wagons shift bulk grain.

I disagree with your statement that gilmac wont have the same success as ultima if they use the last mile transport as road .

Other bigger operators succeed using road only

Its pretty much the only way now days.
Put it on a truck (A-Double) its in the wharf in 2.5 hours.
No first mile, no last mile. No timetables to match with every changing vessel schudles.
Let the rail wagons shift bulk grain.

Agree hally, that is what I have been waffling on with form some time, it's a tough market out there.

Again containers from Bordertown with frozen meat to Melbourne ( 450k ) as well as Adeliade, call it 300, so a few hours from    St Arnaud is nothing, same as Horsham. The only down side is if you get held up for a number of hours at the port to be unloaded..... answer to that.. West Ballarat Intermodal.

BigShunter.

Add to that increased costs to any trucks using the port with lower container handling costs for rail deliveries.  This is how you change behaviour. Let's not forget the issue of carbon issues and also road maintenance etc which will drive the cost up for councils.  I am not sure the "last mile" using a doubles has all the costs attached.

I disagree with your statement that gilmac wont have the same success as ultima if they use the last mile transport as road .

Other bigger operators succeed using road only

Its pretty much the only way now days.
Put it on a truck (A-Double) its in the wharf in 2.5 hours.
No first mile, no last mile. No timetables to match with every changing vessel schudles.
Let the rail wagons shift bulk grain.

Agree hally, that is what I have been waffling on with form some time, it's a tough market out there.

Again containers from Bordertown with frozen meat to Melbourne ( 450k ) as well as Adeliade, call it 300, so a few hours from    St Arnaud is nothing, same as Horsham. The only down side is if you get held up for a number of hours at the port to be unloaded..... answer to that.. West Ballarat Intermodal.

BigShunter.

Drove past the Broadbent grain terminal at Ballarat West today. I was amazed by the number of 20ft and 40ft containers on site for loading. If the rail terminal ever gets going, the traffic generated will be huge.

Maybe I should know the answer to this, but is this Ballarat West Intermodal terminal serviced by rail?

One consideration with the Ballarat Intermodal Freight Hub is that the proposed terminal is next to the Ballarat – Ararat BG line. Assuming the MBRP is completed, it will be BG Ballarat – Melbourne via Ballan and SG Ballarat – Gheringhap.

If intermodal trains are BG they will have to find paths via the RFR.
If intermodal trains are SG then 5 km of DG track (there's room for a separate SG track) will be required between North Ballarat and the terminal (in the vicinity of the former Linton Junction, west of Wendouree). An alternative would be to SG North Ballarat – Ararat.

The proposal thus far has the State government only kicking in for a set of points and some signalling. If BG is adopted, it should be a requirement of the developer that the sidings be gauge-convertible.

https://www.railexpress.com.au/victorian-intermodal-freight-hub-developer-operator/

So if it is Broad Gauge, it will largely be limited to night time freight paths, and if it is Standard Gauge it will have to travel nearly twice as far by rail.

Either way, it doesn't seem to be very competitive with road.

Roughly speaking:

Ballarat - Ballan - Brooklyn: 109 km
Ballarat - North Geelong - Brooklyn: 152 km

Drove past the Broadbent grain terminal at Ballarat West today. I was amazed by the number of 20ft and 40ft containers on site for loading. If the rail terminal ever gets going, the traffic generated will be huge.

is this another case of the project not being run correctly?

IIRC the feds have provided money now who is in charge of the connection to the terminal from the main line and when is this due to be completed?  things work awfully slow in Victoria.  To all intents and purposes the rail side is already funded.

Will the second track be required between Wendouree and Ballarat West?

The stigma of the poor customer service provided by the Government railway department, still lingers on, even though private companies have taken over railway freight (Government departments are still actively throwing spanners In the works to prevent a efficient competitive rail freight system)

Qube and SCT are large Integrated logistic companies, rail freight operations Is only a small part of their business.

Based on what ive seen the stigma of poor customer service still exists in the now privatised government railway....