Speaking in Sydney at the NSW Transport Infrastructure Summit, Michael Kilgariff, Managing Director of the Australian Logistics Council (ALC), has laid out five initiatives aimed at improving freight efficiency in the state.
“Sydney is the most critical link in Australia’s domestic and international supply chains, with most of our freight either originating, passing through or ending up in Sydney,” said Kilgariff. “When Sydney doesn’t work, Australia doesn’t work and the implications hit the freight logistics industry up and down the supply chain.
“Today I outlined five key measures to regain NSW’s position as the ‘premier state for freight’ and in so doing, improve productivity, efficiency and safety in the industry. Firstly, ALC would like to see the timely release of the Final NSW Freight and Port Strategy to improve freight efficiency in the state.”
The draft strategy was released nearly nine months ago and the transport and logistics industry awaits the release of the final strategy with the hope it will provide greater certainty for industry.
“The release of the draft strategy last year was an important step, the challenge now is to build upon its draft recommendations and to put in place concrete measures that improve network capacity, reliability and sustainability,” said Kilgariff. “Second, we encourage the NSW Government to progress a trial of High Productivity Vehicles on the Hume Highway.
“High Productivity Vehicles allow more freight to be moved using fewer vehicles and despite some misconceptions, they are safer, more reliable and cleaner than traditional heavy vehicles that have been used over the years. A Hume Highway trial was highlighted in the National Land Freight Strategy as a priority and we look forward to governments undertaking it.”
“Third, we call on both state and federal governments to progress a second airport in Sydney at Badgery’s Creek. Four, ALC encourages the expeditious development of the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal.
“Five, ALC encourages the NSW Government to invest money raised from recycled infrastructure assets into logistics infrastructure to further improve freight productivity.”