As December rolls around each year, thoughts quickly turn to the holiday period. Most importantly, many begin brainstorming what they want for Christmas. Late last year, as the adults had their usual range of options to bring a smile to their face while kids eagerly awaited a long list of toys sitting under the tree, members of the Australian transport industry received a surprise present. Just five days before Santa began his annual trip around the globe, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) lined the sector’s stockings with something new.
In December, the NHVR gave the sector an unexpected Christmas present when it officially released its latest Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan (HVPP). The plan, spanning from this year through to 2030, outlines 22 actions to overcome challenges currently impacting the trucking landscape.
Whether it be the search for growth in the national freight task, mitigating road fatalities or addressing environmental and health impacts relating to the transport industry, the NHVR plan included plenty of points to pique the interest of truck industry members. While it originally seemed to be the dream gift for many in the industry yearning for a proactive approach to change, some transport associations quickly found the plan to be more akin to a lump of coal lodged deep in their stockings.
As one industry member surprised by the NHVR’s Christmas gift, Western Roads Federation (WRF) CEO Cam Dumesny saw positives in the present, but wasn’t completely full of festive cheer when reading the plan.
“It’s good that the report shows the NHVR is working on productivity,” he told OwnerDriver.
“The plan is better than no plan at all, and putting productivity at the centre of activity is a good thing, but I don’t think the report focuses on all of the important aspects of fixing productivity.”
The ‘P-word’ has been a constant presence in the Australian trucking industry for some time. Many transport industry members have been quick to point out that productivity growth has stalled since around 2007 when the Global Financial Crisis first ground the global economy to a halt.
This economic downturn has meant productivity has been put on the backburner, simmering behind the scenes without much attention from regulators and politicians. Back in the 1990s, measurable and celebrated productivity growth across the Australian freight sector was celebrated. Now, it has slowly been reduced to the faltering flickers of a fond memory attributed to a ‘golden era’ of trucking regulation.
Alongside Dumesny, Queensland Trucking Association (QTA) CEO Gary Mahon wants to see the “enormous issue” of productivity tackled in more complexity than shown in the NHVR’s plan in order to return the industry to the glory days of the ‘90s.
“We need a much more progressive outlook to change the composition of the fleet along with other changes in the HVNL to give us that productivity bounce,” Mahon told OwnerDriver.
“We need to get back to the ‘90s – the last decade we had where there was elevated, measurable and celebrated productivity growth across the industry.
“It waned down to 2007 and has barely had a pulse in it since then. A big way of seeing this productivity boost is by also getting the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) review back on track.”
While the HVNL review continues to receive focus from the NHVR and other members of the industry, it isn’t mentioned in the Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan. Despite the plan’s detailed 22 action points to enhance heavy vehicle productivity and resilience, Dumesny thinks true improvement can’t occur without addressing both productivity and the HVNL in the same timeframe.
“The fundamental problem with the HVNL currently is that local governments are elevated to the same status as state governments when it comes to being road asset owners,” Dumesny says.
“The NHVR has had a challenge for more than a decade to get these systems flourishing on Australia’s key productivity routes. However, the Western Australian and Northern Territory governments have deemed authority over every road in their jurisdiction, so they don’t need to go through an approval process for major freight routes like other states, they only do so out of courtesy.
“These two jurisdictions don’t have to work alongside the likes of 640 local governments around Australia to get these productivity changes approved – it can be a nightmare of a system for the other states and territories that have to work through this.”
Alongside productivity, Dumesny views sustainability as the next most pressing issue for trucking in Australia. In his view, the two are inextricably linked. Amid a cost of living crisis for many in the nation, the bureaucratic red tape that limits certain freight activities means transport is contributing to these rising costs. At the same time, heavy vehicle manufacturing within Australia has dropped to a miniscule fraction of the country’s economy.
Dumesny says this blend of challenges facing the local transport industry can all be addressed equally with a more considerate approach to increasing productivity in the sector.
“Our freight supply lines are a problem, as are our emissions. Do you want to improve these? Then let’s get more productive,” he says.
While the NHVR’s productivity plan is a first step in addressing these issues and returning the industry to its previous heights, Dumesny says the focus shouldn’t be on rates. Instead, current regulation and requirements on transport operators fills his focus when it comes to improving productivity.
“It’s not about pushing rates down further, as they’re already too thin now,” he says.
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“It’s about removing unproductive time with red tape, time and money that is currently wasted on areas we don’t make money from.”
Dumesny and the WRF aren’t the only members of the transport industry with reservations when it comes to the NHVR’s productivity plan. While the regulator’s document also addresses the shift from asset management to optimisation and the increased frequency of unplanned supply chain disruptions, Victorian Transport Association (VTA) CEO Peter Anderson says the NHVR missed key areas in its five-year strategy.
“The VTA is disappointed that the NHVR Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan disregarded key concerns such as heavy vehicle driving training and uniting all Australian road jurisdictions under a single heavy vehicle law,” Anderson told OwnerDriver.
“It also doesn’t address the adoption of innovations from OEMs and the industry. The plan fails to look at real-world needs and doesn’t mention the need to improve the HVNL.”
These oversights have been enough to leave Anderson and the VTA dispirited. He says the NHVR’s credibility has been reduced following the plan’s release as it doesn’t unite Australia’s transport industry under a cohesive framework.
“It repeats last year’s efforts without tackling specific industry issues and doesn’t inspire confidence in significant outcomes,” he says.
However, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Heading up the Hume from the VTA, Simon O’Hara from Road Freight NSW (RFNSW) chose to focus on the positives attached to the NHVR’s Christmas gift.
“The NHVR’s Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan is a great roadmap for the future and report card for the present,” he told OwnerDriver.
“The safety challenges for road freight and decarbonisation must remain our collective focus, but the reference to unplanned supply chain disruptions also form a key part of our conversations held with federal and state ministers, road managers and regulators.”
O’Hara strays from the disgruntled reaction of other Australian transport bodies, instead relishing the mention of key industry challenges. While it may not have been the ideal Christmas gift for many in the sector, industry members like O’Hara are choosing to optimistically pick the positive points in the plan to celebrate and bring attention to.
“One of the most important references in the plan is that the NHVR firmly believes productivity isn’t a trade-off with safety and sustainability, and that stakeholder management and harmonisation remain front and centre imperatives,” he says.
“Our view is that the NHVR must ensure that productivity for operators remains an essential part of its work with the industry.”
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