Lessons of transport sector revealed in global survey

This is a finding echoed across the Asia Pacific region and the world with 41.9% of Chinese companies and 53% of companies globally citing the same lesson learnt.

The survey also shows that 53% of respondents across rail, shipping and aviation in Australia and 63% worldwide believe global economic instability is limiting the availability of finance to the sector.

To remedy this, the global industry (39%) calls for greater investment in infrastructure, increasing to almost two-thirds (71%) of rail respondents who believe this would be the most helpful form of government support for their sector.

In Australia, these figures jump substantially with 60% of respondents calling for greater government investment in infrastructure and four in five (82%) in rail.

The call for greater investment in infrastructure is considerably greater than the request for any other form of government support – such as fiscal incentives which sit at only 13% in Australia.

Similar sentiment is expressed across the Asia Pacific with 27% of respondents in China, 37% in India and Japan and 28% of respondents in Singapore citing infrastructure as the form of investment that would most help the transport sector.

29% of those in the global rail sector say joint ventures and the enlargement of their international footprint are activities they will pursue this year. These figures increase to almost one in two (47%) among Australian rail respondents.

The challenges of the last few years have also led to more disputes for Australian businesses. One quarter of those surveyed in Australia say they have been involved in more disputes leading to litigation, arbitration or mediation and a further 39% of respondents have been involved in more contract negotiations.

The survey is the third transport report released by Norton Rose Group. It details the views of 1,100 international respondents from a range of
companies involved in transport including financiers, owner/operators, manufacturers, government entities and professional services firms.

To download the report visit: www.nortonrose.com