ALC welcomes SA Transport and Land Use Plan

The release of the South Australian Integrated Transport and Land Use Plan has been welcomed by the Australian Logistics Council (ALC). The plan aims to achieve a greater level of integration between the public and private sectors in the provision of port and freight networks.

“The plan estimates South Australia’s freight task will increase to more than 120 billion tonne kilometres by 2043, which underscores why a long-term, strategic approach to meeting the state’s infrastructure and land-use planning needs is critical,” said Michael Kilgariff, ALC Managing Director.

“I welcome the government’s commitment to unclog Adelaide’s major arterial route by completing the north-south corridor which will assist in the efficient movement of freight throughout the city.”

An efficient ‘spine’ through the city needs to be created to improve linkages between Adelaide’s industrial base and its freight gateways in order to handle increased freight volumes in the next thirty years, Kilgariff said.

“The committed expansion of intermodal terminals at Bowmans and Penfield is also a significant step towards improving the capacity of the network and is necessary to facilitate greater levels of freight movements on the interstate rail network,” Kilgariff said.

“Targeted upgrades of regional freight routes that will allow the greater use of high productivity vehicles (HPV) is welcomed, so too is the government’s support for nationally consistent and streamlined regulations for freight transport as well as its commitment to address ‘last-mile’ issues.

“On the issue of planning, it is imperative that the final version of this plan is consistent with the National Land Freight Strategy, the National Ports Strategy and the work being undertaken as part of the Heavy Vehicle Pricing and Investment Reform.

“At the state level, ALC’s strong preference is for urban and freight plans to be contained in the one integrated document so that both the planning and transport bureaucracies are fully involved in the development of planning needs,” Kilgariff said.

“This is because ALC has always been concerned that the interests of freight are the ‘poor cousin’ of planning, with the need to move goods secondary to other interests, such as urban development.

“On this point, ALC notes the plan proposes a number of ways to safeguard freight routes, corridors and facilities from the encroachment of inappropriate or incompatible land use.

“Ultimately, ALC will judge the effectiveness of this approach on the tangible outcomes it delivers the logistics industry, the efficiencies it delivers, as well as the government’s ability to deliver on the final set of actions to the projected time frames.”