Australia unveils updated National Freight, Supply Chain Strategy

The updated strategy sets the agenda for a collaborative approach to deliver actions by governments and industry across freight modes.

It outlines four priority areas—productivity, resilience, decarbonisation and data—to support more efficient supply chains, an official release from the minister of infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government Catherine Kind said.

Since the strategy was first released in 2019, Australia’s supply and freight networks have experienced significant setbacks. These include COVID-19, geopolitical shifts, extreme weather events and worker shortages.

With Australia’s freight task projected to grow by 26 per cent between 2020 and 2050, support of the sector is vitally important, the release noted.

Accompanying the strategy, the new National Action Plan outlines a set of actions that the government and industry will work together to deliver over the five years. Each of these actions is underpinned by the need for safety, which remains a top priority for the government.

Key actions include developing a National Freight Resilience Plan to ensure a consistent and coordinated response to significant supply chain disruptions and a Freight Infrastructure Investment Framework to guide infrastructure investment decisions in freight networks across Australia.

The National Action Plan will conduct safety research on batteries and zero emission power technologies for freight vehicles and locomotives as well as promote the uptake of safety and productivity boosting technology.

It will model the current and future freight and supply chain network to consider what is needed to support its efficiency and effectiveness into the future.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)