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The Australian Freight

Task Movement

The Australian freight task involves movement of different commodities and goods. It

transports bulk export commodities, manufactured goods, machinery, and imported

motor vehicles. The freight task, furthermore, is responsible for delivering finished

products in retail outlets and distribution centres for household consumption.

Shipping and air movements connect the country to the global economy by transporting

commodities and bulk cargo. This is possible through freight nodes linked by rail, road,

air and coastal shipping, serving as a freight transport system.

Rail and Road Freight

Rail carries the largest volume of freight, playing a major role in the transportation of

cotton, sugar, grain and rice for export or processing. Both coal and iron ore dominate

the rail freight, accounting over 80 percent of the overall transport tasks. Other bulks

products such as sugar, grains and fertilisers, meanwhile, account for about 8 percent.

While it is true that rail has the largest freight volume, road transportation remains the

most common way of moving majority of the Australian commodities. Road freight

involves the use of trucks or heavy vehicles that weigh 4.5 tonnes or more. There is the

use of articulated trucks or vehicles that have a primer mover towing turntable-

attached trailers, as well as B-double heavy vehicle combinations.

Sea and Air Freight

Coastal shipping helps land freight task, especially in transporting goods and materials

for local and international trade. Sea freight accounts 17 percent of the overall domestic

freight movements, transporting bulk commodities like iron and aluminium ore. Coastal

shipping movements happen in major iron ore and coal export ports, accounting for

about 80 percent of the total export volume.

Sources:

http://www.pickles.com.au/

https://infrastructure.gov.au/transport/freight/network.aspx

https://bitre.gov.au/publications/2014/files/Freightline_01.pdf

Air freight, on the other hand, is more suitable for low density and high value

commodities. It is commonly used in transporting newspapers, precious metals and

gemstones, and short-lived products. It shares a small of volume of overall transport

task, accounting less than 0.01 percent of the overall domestic freight movements.

Some of the largest export commodities include computer and medicinal and

pharmaceutical products.

The government has an important role in managing transport networks in the country.

Updates and reliable information about the existing and projected use of the network

is significant for efficient management and planning of the network that serves the

country’s growing freight task.