Knowledge Centre

The supply chain industry’s preeminent annual event focused on innovation returns to Melbourne this September, with the Australian Logistics Council (ALC) partnering with HERE Technologies. ALC CEO, Dr Hermione Parsons said the Tech Summit would bring together leading industry experts and focus on how the end-to-end supply chain sector can use technology to drive sustainability. “Our world is changing and it is going to look markedly...

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What The Inland Rail project is a new freight rail network between Melbourne and Brisbane, via regional New South Wales and Queensland. This connection will ultimately become the ‘backbone’ of the national freight network, improving efficiency, safety and reliability by delivering competitive freight services, to meet the nations increasing freight challenges. Currently, road freight transport is the most economical option to move freight...

Using Data to Drive Sustainable Supply Chains Improving efficiency and uplifting national productivity can be achieved through improving Australia’s supply chain. In recent years, the critical importance of the end to end supply chain has become more prominent in our national debate. Without strong, resilient supply chains our grocery store shelves are empty, fuel is scare, medicines are hard to come by and product does not make it to...

Australia has a national economy.Our roads connect our nation, and we need to put in place a fit-for-purpose and nationally consistent road user charge (RUC) for all vehicle types and classes. ALC believes road pricing processes should fairly capture all the relevant cost components of roads to ensure, as far as is practicable, pricing does not distort the choice of transport mode or freight operator. The existing charging model is failing and the way in which road user...

About four billion tonnes of goods are delivered across Australia each year – 163 tonnes of freight for every person. In 2020-21, 230 tonne kilometres (TKM) of non-bulk freight was moved using road freight, compared with 111.9TKM moved on rail. As Infrastructure Australia has observed, growing congestion on our roads and railways impacts the timeliness and costs to moving freight – a problem only set to worsen with the...

Australia is an expansive country and is subject to frequent extreme weather events including floods, cyclones and bushfires. These events cause significant disruption to supply chains and communities from country to coast. The criticality of maintaining supply chains to ensure essential goods and supplies can reach communities has been demonstrated time and time again in recent years. Whether it be toilet paper, medical supplies or food and groceries, recent disruptions demonstrate Australia is...

Infrastructure Australia has noted that rapidly changing land use and development can place pressure on urban transport networks. The increasing density of people living in our largest cities places pressure on legacy networks, while greenfield development requires new infrastructure and services. Failure to coordinate land use and transport planning can contribute to congestion and crowding in some areas, or a lack of...

Australia is not immune to physical and cyber threats, particularly with increasing geopolitical tensions and the changing global landscape in international affairs. ALC and its members acknowledge the importance and support the intent of the Australian Parliaments recent Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure Protection) Act 2022. The freight and logistics supply chain are in many respects, advanced in efforts and investment, to mitigate all hazards and cyber...

As well as improving infrastructure standards, there is a genuine requirement to identify and protect critical supply chain ‘enablers’ that are fundamental to keeping freight moving, the supply chain functioning, and to the wider economy. An enabler is a mechanism, commodity or service that is necessary to support the effectiveness and efficiency of a functioning supply chain. An example that adequately illustrates the importance of...