Productivity focus for NTC

Raising the productivity levels of Australia's transport sector will be a major focus in the National Transport Commission's next work program, as the body seeks out new measures to address the nation's projected freight growth.

The Acting Chief Executive of the NTC, Michelle Hendy, said extensive consultation with industry stakeholders had identified a range of potential improvements to Australia's road, rail and intermodal freight networks, the reforms to be addressed in the NTC's new work program over the next four years.

"A growing economy needs more productive transport networks and these projects will help us find new ways of getting goods to market more efficiently," Ms Hendy said.

"The latest statistics show that Australia's transport, postal and warehousing industry's productivity declined by 3.3 per cent in the past year.

"Yet, our freight task is expected to increase by 80 per cent between 2010 and 2030 and triple by 2050, with truck traffic alone predicted to increase by around 50 per cent to 2030.

"Making it easier for high-productivity trucks to access our roads which will reduce heavy vehicle trips, transport emissions, fatalities and road wear."

The NTC says its productivity program will now examine measures that have already reaped productivity gains in various state, territory and local government jurisdictions, while it will also explore options to increase truck load volumes where appropriate and look at improvements around Performance Based Standards.

The work program was approved by transport ministers at a recent Transport and Infrastructure Council meeting.

The new NTC work program underlines comments made by NTC CEO Paul Retter and NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto at the Australian Trucking Association's Trucking Australia conference in Hobart last March. At the conference both men said higher-productivity vehicles would be a vital key in meeting Australia's growing freight needs, while Mr Retter went on to say that technology would usher in a new era of compliance and enforcement.

Ms Hendy said technology had an important role to play in improving Australia's road freight network.

"The effective use of new and emerging technology provides Australia with an opportunity to grow our economy, increase productivity, improve safety and reduce regulatory burden," she said.

"This is an exciting time for Australia's transport industry with transport operators and all other participants in the freight and logistics sector increasingly embracing new technologies to help them do their jobs even better than they do now.

"But new technology always comes with new challenges. The NTC helps to resolve those issues so Australia can take full advantage of the benefits of new technology."

Full details of the NTC's 2015 to 2019 Work Program, Strategic Plan and Corporate Plan can be found at www.ntc.gov.au.

The Australian Trucking Association, meanwhile, has welcomed the NTC's productivity focus, while urging Government to pay special consideration to a range of known measures that it says could rapidly deliver benefits.

"Last week's Australian Infrastructure Audit Report warned that governments must focus on policy reforms to improve higher productivity vehicle use and the performance of highway infrastructure," said ATA CEO Chris Melham.

"It's fantastic to see the NTC taking this advice seriously.

"However, NTC still needs to increase its focus on measures that will deliver productivity improvements in the short term."

The ATA has called on Government to increase the steer axle mass limit to compensate for the safety and environmental components found in modern trucks, to investigate the use of ultrawide tyres, to examine an increase in vehicle length, and to reconsider the formula used for calculating the maximum permissible weight for bridges, among others issues.

"Very often, well-meaning proposals by governments and bodies such as the Productivity Commission to increase industry productivity and reduce urban congestion are stymied by government regulation that restricts industry's ability to do its work outside of peak periods," said Mr Melham.

"With these additional projects added to the approach outlined in the NTC work program, the transport sector would be well positioned to support Australia's growing freight transport needs."