Transport for NSW (TfNSW) launched the Freight Data Hub on Monday. The hub is intended to help businesses and governments make better operational and investment decisions supported by data with freight forecasts, performance, and other statistics.
The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) says that timely and accurate information about freight movement is essential to effective policy reform and infrastructure investment decisions.
“TfNSW is to be congratulated for its leadership in launching this Freight Data Hub, and providing industry and the community with fresh insights into the way freight is moving around NSW, and freight performance at key trading gateways,” ALC CEO Kirk Coningham said.
However, the initiative depends on industry participants contributing their data sets in order to deliver beneficial outcomes. Being able to visualise how freight moves through the supply chain, the prioritisation of investment on key freight routes, and the identification of bottlenecks and other challenges that inhibit efficient freight movement will enable better decision-making.
“Importantly, the project will also build industry confidence that data can be shared in a manner which provides useful information to industry and governments, but still protects commercially sensitive information relating to individual operators and customers,” Coningham said.
“In the lead-up to the release of the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy earlier this year, there was widespread acknowledgement that improving the quality and quantity of data available regarding freight movement was essential. This thinking drove the Federal Government’s decision to allocate $8.5m to design and pilot a National Freight Data Hub.”
In early November, the federal government announced a National Freight Data Hub with a total $8.5 million commitment. Of that, $5.2 million will go towards the design of, including arrangements for data collection, protection, dissemination and hosting. The remaining $3.3 million will go towards the establishment of a freight data exchange pilot to allow industry to access freight data in real time and a survey of road usage for freight purpose.