Australian landside links under the microscope
After almost two decades of intense scrutiny of the performance of its container terminals, Australia is turning in new directions – to the landside links in the logistics chain, and to measurement of the efficiency or otherwise of its bulk ports.
The Federal Government’s Bureau of Transport, Infrastructure and Regional Economics (BITRE) has a reputation for the collation and interpretation of waterfront data, which assumed immense importance prior to and in the wake of 1998’s tumultuous labour reforms.
But dockside performance is almost a non-issue these days. Container- and ship-handling rates have remained impressive over the last five years, especially in the face of burgeoning volumes, and there hasn’t been one serious strike by stevedores this century.
BITRE has shifted its focus to container volumes and performance at terminal gates, measuring truck turnaround times, 24/7 distribution of traffic and use of vehicle booking services. With Sydney’s Port Botany in particular still facing chronic landside congestion, and freight volumes expected to double within 20 years, road and rail efficiency is now a high priority. The Federal Government’s commitment to the revitalisation of Australian coastal shipping has prompted examination of a broader modal mix for domestic freight.
The critical spotlight has been trained on queue-ridden bulk ports – at least until the global financial crisis ate into exports late last year. Australian federal and state governments are determined, however, that the infrastructure inadequacies that meant coal, iron ore, alumina and other metals and minerals producers were unable to meet rampant international demand during the boom will not handicap the balance-of-trade when the recovery inevitably kicks in.
BITRE points out that in 2006-07 non-containerised trade, which comprises mainly bulk freight, was 97.5% by weight and 70.5% by value of Australia’s maritime trade. Thus current bi-annual reports are ignoring a major part of maritime trade data, and the Bureau believes analysis of data collected from 13 leading bulk ports could lead to productivity improvements, for example by reducing vessel queues and the length of time vessels spend in a port.
The congestion regularly experienced – most conspicuously at East Coast coal ports – leads to higher demurrage costs and reduced capacity of Australian exporters to fulfil export demand.
BITRE also sees opportunities to improve the functioning of the whole transport logistic chain: “Data on an appropriate set of indicators could provide a greater understanding of where bottlenecks lie, which in turn could deliver benefits to ports and port authorities and to their various customers on both the wharfside and landside.”
It cites a 2008 study of Queensland’s Goonyella coal chain, from mines to port, which found inefficiencies meant approximately A$1.2bn (US$969m) per year was being lost in foregone revenue and demurrage costs.
Finally, BITRE says, data is needed to inform decisions on investment in infrastructure.
