Transport and Logistics Industry

Queensland has a vibrant and diverse transport and logistics industry linking communities, regions and the state to the rest of Australia and internationally.

The transport industry facilitates the movement of freight across a network comprising 180,500 kilometres of public roads, 9,550km of rail line, 9 commercial sea ports and various community ports, 3 international airports and various domestic airports, 2 key intermodal freight terminals and various smaller multi-modal terminals and rail sidings, and a small number of pipelines and conveyors.

The Transport and Logistics Industry is a critical part of the Australian economy, generating 14.5% of Australia’s GDP and providing more than 1 million jobs across 165,000 companies.

The necessity to drive efficiencies in the transport & logistics supply chain becomes an imperative given recent Treasury estimates that Australia’s population will increase to 35 million by 2050.

Individual components of the transport network in Queensland require detailed planning, development, management and operation based on relative transport demands.

Road network - consists of local, state and national roads that connect individual origins and destinations and provide a critical function for the movement of freight. Detailed polices and strategies for managing the road network are primarily guided by “Roads Connecting Queensland” and the “Roads Implementation Program”.

Rail network - includes the narrow gauge network, inter-state standard gauge line from Queensland border to Acacia Ridge and dual gauge to Roma Street and the Port of Brisbane. The rail network primarily moves freight in bulk. The sugar cane railways are separate to the broader network. The Rail Network Strategy provides the framework for managing the rail network.

Sea ports - include privately and publicly owned ports that support coastal and international shipping. In addition to their own terminal facilities, ports are reliant on integrated land transport linkages to support freight movement. The development of these ports is informed by individual plans and corporate strategies unique to each port.

Inland waterways - include navigable rivers suited to inland water transport such as barges. Although this form of transport has limited current use it may represent a useful future alternative.

Airports - includes privately and publicly owned airports that support passenger air travel, with a secondary but important role for freight. Because of the limited availability of dedicated air freighters, airfreight is primarily carried in the belly hold of passenger services. Airports also rely on effective land transport connections.

Terminals - provide the means of connectivity between transport modes and generally include:

• Intermodal - multi-user terminals servicing containerised freight movement, primarily facilitating integration between road and rail (e.g. Acacia Ridge).
• Multimodal - supports integration of two or more modes to support the movement of generic freight (non-containerised) freight.
• Sidings/Commodities - reflect their specific roles and scale for unique handling requirements of commodities e.g. coal terminal (railhead/conveyor/stockpile/conveyor/ship),
• Livestock terminal (e.g. road to stockyards, loading ramps, cattle train etc).
• Others - locations loosely classified as terminals such as distribution centres/ loading docks etc where loads are moved between different types of vehicles (e.g. semi-trailer to rigid/van).

A coordinated approach to planning and future development of terminals is critical to achieving optimum integrated transport solutions.

Pipelines and conveyors – are an important, but less visible component, of the transport network. Pipelines significant utility due to their ability to effectively transport suitable commodities over long distances with minimal operating costs. One example is the 300km slurry pipeline from Century Mine to Karumba, which carries approximately 940,000 tonnes of wet zinc concentrate per annum. Pipelines will have an increasing role in the future transport network reflecting their benefits for certain commodities and future planning to develop Queensland’s gas resources. Conveyors have a primary loading/unloading use in terminals. However, they have potential for moving freight in their own right. An example is the conveyor connecting New Acland mine to a rail loading facility, which includes a cost effective crossing of the Warrego Highway.

Regional transport networks - The representation of transport networks within specific areas or regions is largely driven by unique transport requirements of those regions. Collectively, the optimum solution for moving freight to, from or within those regions is achieved by the integration of modes into the local, regional and strategic freight environments. Primarily, the arrangements for a achieving this are addressed as part of a regional integrated transport planning process and are reflected in integrated regional transport plans such as the IRTP for SEQ – “Connecting SEQ2031”.

Task-specific transport systems - Some transport tasks because of their size, importance and broader impact warrant individual transport plans that transcend regional or modal considerations such as “Coal Infrastructure in Queensland; Overview of future expansions”.