Once again Victoria has firmly cemented its place as the freight and logistics capital of Australia, following the Victorian Governments Announcement of its long term 1.6 billion dollar freight plan.
Victoria’s freight industry is on the move – and some of the prime beneficiaries of the gains being made are the thousands of businesses and industries that rely on them for safe, efficient and affordable freight transportation.
While investment in the freight industry will ensure future development of jobs in the industry it will also ensure that, industries such as manufacturers, farmers and mining, will be to compete effectively locally and world-wide.
Freight is one of Victoria’s fastest growing sectors with the Port of Melbourne being the nation’s largest container and general cargo port, along with impressive growth from the Port of Geelong and Port of Portland which delivered record trade figures in 2011-12. It is expected that the container trade in Victoria is will quadruple in the next 30 years.
The Victorian Governments long term plan includes the expansion and development of the East West Link, the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel and the Ports at Melbourne and Hastings. The Plan; ‘Victoria the Freight State’ has used forecast modelling of future growth and trends to provide detailed scenarios of the freight and logistics sector up to 2050.
Few of us will ever spend much time thinking about how the shelves of our local grocery stores are always stocked, or essential services are run, or even down to small things like how a package ordered online will arrive at homes or place of business . We take for granted the efficiency of the delivery of freight into and out of our region. It is fortunate therefore that the Victorian Government has had the foresight to invest in the future of this booming industry, and to support its future growth.
