Productivity key to growth

Both the CEO of the National Transport Commission, Paul Retter (pictured seated, right), and the CEO of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, Sal Petroccitto (pictured seated, left), have flagged the importance of high-productivity vehicles in meeting the challenge of Australia's growing freight task.

Addressing delegates at the ATA's recent Trucking Australia conference in Hobart, both Mr Retter and Mr Petroccitto said higher-productivity vehicles would play a crucial role in coming years.

With government research projecting a tripling of the road freight task by 2050, Mr Retter said that a future without productivity gains would have significant ramifications for the industry and the community.

"Without productivity improvements optimising the use of rail and other forms of transport where appropriate we're going to see far more trucks on the roads, which is going to have flow-on effects for road safety initiatives, congestion, and road conditions," he said.

Mr Retter said Government needed to prioritise the issue of productivity as a matter of urgency.

"Where is the national agenda for productivity in the transport and logistics sector?" he said.

"The reality is there is no national approach endorsed by governments for productivity in Australia at present.

"We need to get ministers to agree that productivity is important – and I don't think there's any problem there – so we can get them to agree to a co-ordinated approach and some targets so we can measure how well we are going, and we have a way to go do to that."

While the industry does indeed have a long way to go before we see things like B-triples (pictured) plying major trade arteries like the Hume Highway, the current Performance Based Standards scheme is at least seeing increasing numbers of operators unlock the benefits of carrying higher loads per vehicle where safe to do so.

Mr Petroccitto said the PBS system was an important piece of the productivity puzzle.

"For me, I do see this as a significant enabler to the task that's before us if we're going to achieve the challenges in terms of freight growth and the productivity gains I want to deliver," he said.

Mr Petroccitto said that effectively communicating the benefits of higher-productivity vehicles to the general public was vitally important to the successful introduction of such formats in the future.

"If you tell someone from the community you're putting something on the road that's larger and heavier they're going to be scared of it, but if potentially you tell the community you're looking at something that's more productive and safer, and that if you get that on the road you're going to have less of them, it's a different discussion," he said.

"I think as an industry collectively we need to start looking at our language and our terminology. Terminology and the way we talk about productivity is critical if we're going to be successful. And if we're going to bring the community along, we have to look at the way we educate and inform them in terms of how the advancements of our industry are delivering better outcomes for them."