Dung flung in truck wash row

Esperance truck drivers are forced to make an 800km round trip to clean out stock crates after the south-east's only truck wash was closed on December 31.

Livestock transporters must now travel to either Katanning or Mt Barker to wash out trucks, or face loading stock into filthy crates.

The industry claims it's a biosecurity and animal welfare nightmare.

Crane's Haulage livestock manager Steve Crawford said when the truck wash was functioning they would wash out every couple of loads, but trucks with dirty crates were not good for either the animal or the person loading them.

"We're trying to contain waste in one spot (at the truck wash) not spread it behind every farmer's dam bank, but unfortunately that's what could end up happening," Mr Crawford said.

The problematic truck wash has been a long-standing point of contention between the Shire and industry.

At well over 88 cents a minute, it's one of the most expensive truck washes in the country, yet the Shire claims the Esperance facility has run at a loss for the past eight years.

That's despite fees to clean out trucks at the facility costing more than 2 per cent of some livestock transporters' annual turnover.

Last year it was closed for nearly two months after problems with effluent running into the environment.

Back then both growers and transporters were furious, claiming the situation was forcing truck drivers to load stock into crates already fetid with faeces.

It reopened last June, only to be closed at the end of December.

The Esperance Shire now claims it won't be reopened until someone comes up with the funding to upgrading the ailing facility.

Acting Shire chief executive Rod Hilton said the truck wash didn't comply with Department of Environment and Conservation conditions that all waste was contained within ponds.

"We just don't have any means of controlling that within the pond system that we have," Mr Hilton said.

"We need money for (upgrading) that and until such time as we can get funding for it, the centre will remain closed."

The Shire plans to move Esperance's liquid waste facility from Wylie Bay to the truck wash on Myrup Road, upgrading both facilities at the same time.

It's set to cost $1.1 to $2 million and while the Shire has allocated $500,000 for the project, no other funding has been forthcoming.

It's a problem no one is putting their hand up to solve.

Applications for Royalties for Regions funding have been knocked back, while letters sent out by the Shire to industry representatives have gone unanswered.

The Shire says it's disappointed the industry hasn't come to the table with funding to upgrade the facility.

"I think as a local government we've been fairly disappointed that the people involved in the industry haven't really come to the front with some assistance to try and get this thing moving," Mr Hilton said.

But the industry already put up cash to help build the truck wash in the first place.

OD Transport livestock manager Anthony Armstrong said it's unrealistic to expect the transport companies to again put their hands in their pocket to pay for an upgrade.

"The livestock transport companies in town just aren't big enough to do that," he said.

"We've been writing letters madly trying to get help or support. We've approached politicians and the Livestock and Rural Transport Association.

"But we've been down those roads and we're not getting anywhere."

A public meeting to discuss the future of the truck wash will be held at the Esperance Shire offices on Tuesday, January 17, at 1.30pm.