South Australia’s Freight Transport Infrastructure Moving Freight The First and Last Mile November 2015 South Australian Freight Council Inc Level 1, 296 St Vincent Street Port Adelaide SA 5015 Tel.: (08) 8447 0688 Email: [email protected] www.safreightcouncil.com.au The South Australian Freight Council Inc is the State’s peak multi-modal freight and logistics industry group that advises both State and Federal Governments on industry related issues.SAFC represents road, rail, sea and air freight modes and operations, Freight service users (customers) and assists the industry on issues relating to freight and logistics across all modes. Disclaimer: While the South Australian Freight Council has used its best endeavours to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this report, much of the information provided has been sourced from third parties. Accordingly, SAFC accepts no liability resulting from the accuracy, interpretation, analysis or use of information provided in this report. In particular, maps of permitted restricted access vehicle routes regularly change, and those contained in this document are for illustrative purposes only and should not be relied upon for route planning. Chairman’s Statement It will come as no surprise to readers that if the State and nation’s producers cannot access optimum High Productivity Vehicle corridors for the full journey that their product takes to and from market, they will often use a smaller vehicle to complete the whole task! First and last mile issues are the bane of exporters, manufacturers and transport businesses. They increase the number of trucks on our roads and overall transport costs, they lower efficiencies, and they make our goods less competitive in the global marketplace. Not all businesses can strategically place themselves to access the best transport pathways. Farms exist where the arable land is, wine grapes grow in regions with the best soil for the purpose and timber plantations are located where rainfall is highest. For these and similar industries to prosper in international markets the best possible transport connections to primary freight routes and to key intermodal terminals, freight facilities and precincts need to be facilitated. It is estimated that a 1% increase in transport and logistics industry productivity is worth $2 billion in GDP1. SAFC strongly believes that there are significant productivity gains to be made in addressing first/last mile issues in this state, delivering major economic benefits for all South Australians. This is why SAFC has taken the unprecedented step of preparing a policy paper on this single issue. SAFC wishes to acknowledge the State Government, PIRSA and Primary Producers SA for the recent ’90 Day Change Project’ undertaken to improve transport for the agricultural industry. This project is a significant step forward in bringing Last Mile issues to light, even if only for a single sector of the economy. Whilst the outputs of the project do not fully satisfy everyone’s needs, SAFC believe that there is an opportunity for other sectors to receive a similar focus and attention. The Transport and Infrastructure Minister, Steven Mullighan MP has announced the formation of a 12 month project team inside the Department for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure to address the outcomes of the 90 day project report. We trust that this document will assist the project team in addressing route access issues in South Australia – for the Agricultural sector; as well as for other potential beneficiaries of access improvements. We look forward to working closely with the project team on this critical issue and would encourage implementation of identified initiatives as a priority. We also note the call in the 90 Day Project report for a funding pool to address first/last mile issues – a recommendation that SAFC has been making for many years. Moving Freight, our principal policy document on infrastructure issues calls for ongoing funding over many years specifically for this purpose. The time to introduce the proposed Heavy Vehicle Facilitation Fund is now, rather than continuing to see opportunities to improve productivity missed. SAFC intends to watch forward budget allocations closely to ensure that funds are allocated to implement this initiative. While First and Last Mile issues are the focus of this document, there are other access issues that are inextricably bound to the wider issue of efficient transport in South Australia, and will be required to be addressed as part of a full first/last mile solution. Higher Mass Limits (HML) and Performance Based Standards (PBS) are two examples of regulatory issues that should be clarified and simplified. Where South Australia was once recognised as a leader in facilitating Restricted Access Vehicles (RAV) we are now considered by some to lag behind other states. Proactively tackling these issues can bring us to the top of the table again and better position South Australian industry to compete in its markets. Peter Taylor Chairman, South Australian Freight Council November 2015 1 Australian Logistics Council/ACIL Allen ‘The Economic Significance of the Transport and Logistics Industry’ 2014, pg i 1 Executive Summary Addressing First and Last Mile issues has the potential to increase road transport productivity by up to 50% for some businesses. This significant productivity increase will in turn increase profitability and enhance the potential for agricultural, mining and manufacturing businesses (to name just a few) to expand their operations, delivering jobs and economic growth for all South Australians. Eliminating First and Last Mile issues also promises to deliver associated congestion reduction, safety, export competitiveness and environmental benefits to the broader economy and the community in general. The recently completed (March 2015) ‘90 Day’ agricultural transport improvement project is a step in the right direction, providing a unique focus on First and Last Mile issues. Nonetheless, the project outcomes require further clarification and transparency to confirm their validity and enhance their value as well as a solid implementation plan. The tables in the Appendix to this document include the issues SAFC raised with the 90 Day Project team, the (sometimes contradictory) possible timelines for completion of related issues in the project report, and SAFC’s comments on those issues. Throughout this document SAFC makes a number of recommendations. While these are best read in context throughout the document, the key recommendations are: 90 Day Project • A number of projects SAFC raised with high benefits and little to no cost have been relegated to long timeframes, which runs counter to the methodology outlined in the document. Government must transparently clarify why these projects have been relegated to the ‘too hard’ basket, despite relatively little apparent cost and high productivity gain. All rankings and cost/benefit analysis undertaken should be made public. • One of the first tasks of the 12 month Implementation eamT must be to re-issue the tables in a clearer and logical manner so that the implementation timeline for each access improvement can be more easily assessed and identified. Funding • SAFC’s principal public policy document, Moving Freight (last published in November 2012) advocated at the highest level of urgency and importance for the creation of a state-based funding pool aimed at improving high productivity vehicle access over a 20 year period. The 90 Day Project Report also recommends “a funding program be developed for consideration by the State and Commonwealth Governments to address ‘last mile’ and access issues where infrastructure needs to be improved”. SAFC urges the early establishment of this pool of funding so as the benefits of improved heavy vehicle access can be achieved swiftly. Gazettal below design capacity • SAFC urges the State Government to immediately gazette the Northern Expressway and the duplicated section of the Sturt Highway to the PBS3 network (accommodating vehicles up to Double Road Train and B-Triple Higher Mass Limit categorisation). SAFC believes that specific facility access issues adjacent to these routes will then emerge. • It is critical that the full value of new infrastructure spending is realised by gazetting new roads at their design level going forward. Performance Based Standards (PBS) and Higher Mass Limits (HML) • All network access permissions should be gazetted at a PBS level, not the level of an individual configuration, and SAFC calls upon the South AustralianGovernment to implement this change. • Governments (State and Local) must ensure that there is no difference in the HML and standard mass limit networks, unless there is a demonstrable infrastructure weight limit (i.e. a bridge) that renders this necessary. Government instituted HML rules ensure that access is safe and will not damage road pavements beyond normal trucking impacts. • All Commodity Networks should be gazetted at HML – providing access for those with the appropriate vehicles and accreditations. • SAFC supports the consolidation of a sufficiently esourcedr one stop shop for route and vehicle approvals inside the NHVR and, critically, avoidance of any subsequent unilateral right of state and local governments to veto applications and NHVR decisions. 2 Introduction Imagine the Government could increase a significant element of your business productivity by 33 – 50% with little more than ‘the stroke of a pen2’. Then imagine