Thursday 8 August 2013

NSW Transport Infrastructure Summit Michael Kilgariff, Managing Director, Australian Logistics Council “Investing in infrastructure to improve freight productivity and efficiency

In NSW, Freight is Big Business

• NSW’s freight task is expected to double to 794 million tonnes by 2030

• Freight and Logistics contributed approximately $58 billion of NSW Gross State Product in 2011

• Nearly 130,000 people are directly employed – tens of thousands more are indirectly employed

We’ve come a long way in recent years….

• National regulators for heavy vehicles, rail safety and maritime safety have been established

• National Land Freight Strategy finalised and released

• National Ports Strategy signed off by COAG

• State based freight strategies under development

Time to Deliver to improve freight efficiency in NSW

• Draft NSW Freight and Port Strategy, released in Nov 2012, is an important step to improve freight efficiency

• ALC believes it is ‘Time to Deliver’ on the strategy, and ensure it is finalised and released as quickly as possible

• Industry looking forward to the implementation of concrete measures that will improve network capacity, reliability and sustainability

TIME TO DELIVER to Improve Freight Efficiency Nationally

Second Sydney Airport at Badgery’s Creek

Inland Rail linking Brisbane and Melbourne

Moorebank

Short Haul Rail

High Productivity Vehicles

Improving Freight Efficiency at Port Botany

• Australia’s second largest container port

• Investment is needed to improve road and rail links in and out of Port Botany

• Passenger and freight growth underscores need for West Connex project

• ALC looks forward to final details to better understand how it will improve freight efficiency

Harnessing private sector investment in infrastructure

• Streamlining the PPP process is needed to encourage greater private sector investment in infrastructure

• Initiatives to encourage greater involvement by super funds is also required

• There is a clear appetite for investment by super funds in Australian infrastructure, for example, Port Botany and Port Kembla

• Other state governments should follow suit and identify potential assets for ‘recycling’

• Moneys from recycled infrastructure assets should go back into freight infrastructure to improve efficiency

Protecting Critical Freight Corridors

• Many ports suffer from inappropriate development

• ‘Crowding out’ of freight impacts on productivity, efficiency and safety outcomes

• Governments need to:

Identify key freight routes Establish funding mechanisms to

ensure their ongoing preservation

Heavy Vehicle Charging and Investment (HVCI)

• HVCI reform aims to establish a stronger link between road charges and investment

• ALC believes it is a potentially beneficial reforms if it leads to improved productivity, efficiency and safety outcomes

• However, the funding needs to follow the freight and any funds raised are ‘hypothecated’ and not lost to consolidated revenue

Conclusion

• ‘Freight doesn’t vote’ despite supply chain efficiency impacting on all Australians

• Long term plans are needed to build a stronger freight future and a stronger economy

• Integral part of the solution is investing in infrastructure to improve freight productivity, efficiency and safety

ALC Forum 2014