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Western Roads Federation – No Political Will

Over to you WESTERN ROADS FEDERATION by Cam Dumesny, CEO

No political will

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The last few years we have all been struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic but as 2021 wore on, I realised there was another, much more serious pandemic that we are dealing with right across the world.

Over the last month, Western Australia has experienced its first taste of serious supply disruptions, as the east-west rail line was closed for nearly a month due to flooding.

The Road Transport industry stepped in to immediately help.

Sea freight was organised, albeit the first ship comes in about a month after the rail was shut.

Air freight was a limited option, as air flights (hence belly cargo) had already been severely cut, with most air freight already moving by road between the east and west.

These disruptions will increase as COVID-19 related labour shortages bite in the next month or so.

National Crisis

Both WA and the NT were severely impacted by the SA floods. The NT lost both road and rail connections to SA for a couple of weeks (rail still not online). Meanwhile, WA lost the east-west rail connection.

But the East Coast was already stretched with COVID-19 related supply disruptions and hence had little spare capacity to assist supplying WA and the NT.

Oh, and don't forget the Great Northern Highway connecting Perth and Darwin was cut due to flooding in the Kimberley. And we still have an ongoing global shipping and international airfreight problem.

Government Interest

Clearly, a crisis on this scale against the backdrop of an on-going global supply chain challenge would be a call to action, for immediate coordinated planning between State and Federal Governments.

Culminating it being the lead and dominant item on the agenda of the twice a year meeting of the State and Federal transport Ministers.

No Prizes for Guessing

No, the issue was not on the agenda, it wasn't even raised. Nor was the on-going skills shortage mentioned.

Rising Inflation Should Attract Ministerial Interest?

Rising freight costs and supply disruptions are one of the key factors in driving Australia's increasing rate of inflation.

For those of us old enough to remember high inflation and high interest rates ( I remember locking in a two year fixed housing rate at 16.25% and being consider a genius - which we all know I am not). The inflation rate at the time ranged between 7 to 9%.

Whilst I believe our industry should

receive far better rates for our services. Rising rates in an inflationary environment is not good, as often costs are rising faster than you can lift prices.

So, you would think Minister's would have been actively engaged in discussing how they could put in place measures to reduce inflationary pressures across all modes of transport.

Short answer, nope they were not.

So, What Things Could Be Done?

Here are just some things that could be done:

High Wide Load Movements

Unfortunately, the lead time to book Main Roads Escort Wardens required for the mid-sized and above high wide loads is now six months. It used to be six weeks, so you can expect significant delays on projects and other sites where HWL equipment needs to be moved in.

Inevitably this impacts WA's heavy engineering and related assembly businesses.

Fremantle Port

Fremantle port remains an on-going concern particularly regarding both costs and reliability.

Evidence of this is that a couple of members have begun to arrange direct shipping of containers in to NW ports and then road training 1500 km to Perth to improve customer reliability

Skills Shortages

The number one issue facing our members is the on-going critical shortage of labour, drivers, mechanics and specialist staff.

It is now not uncommon to have MD's of mid to large companies driving trucks or working in the warehouses.

Costs

Our members are facing surging costs for labour, repairs, parts and fuel (both diesel and Adblue) Noting Adblue costs are still sitting at over 250% higher than pre-crisis period. Diesel has risen about 40% in the last 12 months.

Productivity

There is an on-going problem in translating productivity improvements to relieve pressure on our industry from

These supply chain issues, particularly for the road transport sector have been building over the last two years.

Our member's are increasingly expressing exasperation and understandable fatigue from trying to satisfy their customers, but trying to do that in an ever increasingly difficult set of circumstances.

Circumstances which Governments' at both State and Federal level fail to truly appreciate and address.

All Mode Challenges

Whilst our membership is predominantly road, we do collaboratively work with the other modes: rail, sea and air.

But each of those modes are facing their own challenges as well. This is not a tribal mode fight, every mode is under pressure.

Political Will Lacking

In speaking with the other states, there is near universal agreement that there is no political will or interest in addressing the issues.

The question is how do we create the political will?

State/ Federal discussions to actual implementation.

The reality is that social policy still overrides the economic necessity to improve freight productivity to compensate for the on-going skills shortages and cost rises.

Noting we have put forward productivity improvement proposals that also deliver social policy benefits but these have largely been treated as shelfware.

Fatigue and Lack of Support

WESTERN ROADS FEDERATION IS THE UNITED VOICE OF WA TRANSPORT COMPANIES

Western Roads Federation has been formed to give a strong unified voice for companies who use WA roads for commercial benefit. Western Roads Federation is a membership driven organisation. If you believe in the industry and what you do, then make sure your company is a member, and get involved. For a membership application form Email cam.dumesny@westernroads.com.au ◆ Phone 08 9365 7799 or 0481 064 371 180 Hay St, East Perth WA 6004

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