THE Australian federal government has updated its National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy and launched a new National Action Plan to tackle the issues identified.
Productivity, resilience, decarbonisation and data are acknowledged as priority areas for attention. The National Action Plan prioritises key areas on which the government and the freight industry will work together to deliver over the next five years.
These include:
- developing a National Freight Resilience Plan to ensure a “consistent and coordinated” response to significant supply chain disruption
- developing a Freight Infrastructure Investment Framework to guide infrastructure investment decisions
- conducting safety research on battery and zero-emission traction technologies for freight vehicles, including locomotives, and
- modelling current and future freight networks to ascertain what is needed to support efficient and effective operations.
The federal government says the revision of the National Freight Strategy follows a period of significant change for the sector over the past five years, including the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, extreme weather events and staff shortages.
Rail accounted for just under two-thirds of domestic freight traffic in 2023-24, with bulk cargo such as coal and iron ore accounting for the majority. A total of 447.9 billion tonne-km were carried by rail, while 249 billion tonne-km were carried by road. However, rail’s market share grew by just 1.1% in 2023-24, while the road market share grew by 3%.
The strategy document projects freight growth by mode between 2020 and 2050 as:
- air: 103%
- road: 77%
- rail: 6%
- domestic coastal shipping: 0%
Welcoming the publication of the strategy, Australasian Railway Association CEO, Caroline Wilkie, says the freight sector is “at a critical juncture, with an urgent need for greater use of rail to create a more productive and sustainable national freight network that meets Australia’s future needs.”
