Smoking crystal meth directly led to a fatal crash that killed two truckers; meanwhile, dead kangaroos, speeding, and dodgy crane operators feature in two labor-law hearings in Australia
Notorious bridge claims victim; freight road upgrades; truck company director fined after trucker deaths; horror crashes in good driving conditions continue; drayage gets an over-mass exemption.
Trade growth, demography and land use changes in the city of Melbourne, Australia, have made necessary a shift of freight from truck to rail, according to an analysis by Melissa Horne, Victorian Minister for Ports and Freight.
Deadly crash treated as a potential murder/suicide; Mainfreight reports US$1.93 billion of revenues; druggy truckie gets 14 months; freight costs revealed.
A looming workforce supply gap in the freight forwarding sector has caused the industry to reach out to over one million high school students.
Australian ports recorded in excess of 1.94 million twenty foot equivalent (TEU) container movements during the first quarter of 2019. But freight forwarders sense a downturn may be about to happen…
It’s been busy in Australian trucking. A hostile takeover bid has succeeded, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. An innovative Aussie manufacturer has invented a new kind of intermodal tanker for dangerous chemicals. This, and more, in Down Under Trucking.
Government approval has been given for the construction of a $250 million (US$175 million) liquefied natural gas import terminal at Port Kembla, 44 miles to the south-south-west of Sydney, Australia. The country is facing a shortage of gas and record high prices, which is somewhat ironic because Australia is likely the world’s biggest exporter of gas.
Global freight forwarder Bolloré Logistics and productivity software provider WiseTech Global ASX: WTC) have done a deal to roll-out WiseTech’s core software across the forwarder’s global network.
Australia’s import, export and logistics industries are in dismay at a massively escalating series of surcharges that are being unilaterally charged to truckers and shippers by the nation’s main box terminal operators. There have been hikes in surcharges of hundreds of percentage points. And, in one case, an imposed surcharge was literally increased over a couple of years by 2,372 percent. Industry executives are furious.
Down Under Trucking: a weekly round-up of trucking news from Australia. The country has been struck by a spate of horrible crashes of trucks with multiple trailers have rolled over. On the corporate side, a major trucking-related hostile takeover has broken out. Politicians in Queensland are seeking to modify the Heavy Vehicle National Law and, on the commercial front, truck sales appear to be coming off the boil from last year’s red-hot market.
EXCLUSIVE: a fire at the Port of Dampier has seriously damaged iron ore miner and exporter Rio Tinto’s facilities. Iron ore exports from Dampier are likely to be severely disrupted. Iron ore prices will come under pressure, sources say, adding that dry bulk rates will “fall through the floor”.
Australia’s maritime officials are keeping a wary eye on the oceans around north west Australia as Cyclone Wallace menaces the Pilbara-region coastline. The harbour master for Port Walcott directed that the port be cleared. However, it was a narrow miss for iron ore export facility, Port Walcott, as the cyclone swerved away. And so the harbour master cancelled the direction to clear the port. Iron ore exports are, nonetheless, likely to disrupted. But it’s not over yet as, to the north east of Wallace, a “tropical low” is threatening to build up into a cyclone too.
Down Under Trucking: a round-up of trucking news from Australia. Top news this week: revealed – how trucks have accidents in Australia; a new in-depth government inquiry into trucking and transport. And, finally, how one truck driver thought he was being pranked… but, in reality, he was winning BIG!
Brisbane, Australia-based construction company Watpac has been contracted to provide design, engineering and construction services to EPIK, a South Korean liquefied natural gas (LNG) developer for the construction and placement of a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) at the Port of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. Watpac is a subsidiary of Belgian multi-disciplinary engineering company, Besix.
Major Australian miners BHP and Rio Tinto have both revealed that they were adversely affected by the recent category four Cyclone Veronica and that they have suffered iron ore production losses.
Down Under Trucking: a round-up of news, information and the latest developments from the Australian trucking industry. Top news this week is the announcement of a A$2 billion (US$1.4 billion) road safety funding package by the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Funding was a big theme this week, as was driver safety, road safety and fatigue.
A major iron ore export port with 185 million tons iron ore capacity on Australia’s north west coast has been absolutely clobbered by the recent category four Cyclone Veronica, FreightWaves can exclusively reveal. Port Walcott’s operational ability is down by nearly 90 percent. Rio Tinto has declared force majeure to its customers. Major miner, Rio Tinto, which operates the port, is mostly staying silent. Dry bulk freight rates are likely to be hit, dry bulk sources say.
Two strong cyclones in as many months have caused trouble in a tiny, vulnerable island in the Indian Ocean. Damage to infrastructure widespread.
