About The Event

The acclaimed annual AussIntermodal event brings government departments, the leaders of Australias ports, shipping lines, logistics service providers, engineering, freight operators, rail companies and analysts to discuss intermodal issues and the future of the nations freight industry. Over the last decade, the event has regularly attracted in excess of 150 senior level delegates every year from industries impacted by intermodalism, AusIntermodal is THE freight transport event of the year.

Did you miss AusIntermodal 2010?

The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) and Lloyds List DCN would like to thank all speakers, supporters and delegates who participated in the 10th Anniversary AusIntermodal, held on 9-10 November 2010 in Melbourne.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, AusIntermodal 2010 brought together a cast of industry champions: from government departments to the leaders of Australia's ports and freight operations.

The key theme to emerge was the need to move from mode specific thinking to focusing on a seamless economy and the productivity of the greater freight task. To borrow from Helen Newell's eloquent talk on the transport marketplace, the industry needs to prioritise "efficiency drivers" and throughout the two days, speakers were honest and passionate in their discussions on the planning, performance and efficiency of the nation's freight network.

Andrew Jaggers, Executive Director of the Nation Building Infrastructure, at the Department of Infrastructure and Transport set the scene by highlighting the major road, rail and port projects funded by the Building Australia Fund. This investment in Nation Building contributes to the nation's increasing economic productivity and it was interesting to later hear from Steve Meyrick and others on how the consequences of such investment had helped Australia's performance during the GFC.

Michael Deegan, CEO, Infrastructure Australia built on this overview of the Government's priorities by providing a forecast for projects in the pipeline. And before we could pause for morning tea, Senator Scott Ludlam challenged the industry to deal with a number of "unsafe assumptions" including the cost of not dealing with climate change and the endgame of oil.

Conversations on freight corridors, carbon tax and COAG regulatory reform continued and slipped over into the evening where there was a lovely late afternoon sunset over the Yarra for the AusIntermodal 2010 dinner at The Deck restaurant, Southbank.

If rail operations were the flavour of the first day, then the Port CEO session on day two personified Michael Deegan's belief that "in freight, ports are the natural leaders". Stephen Bradford, CEO, Port of Melbourne Corporation, Vincent Tremaine, CEO, Flinders Ports, Chris Leatt-Hayter, CEO, Fremantle Ports and Grant Gilfillan, CEO, Sydney Ports Corporation provided highly informative reports on their port's projects. Although each port has specific challenges and opportunities, this high-intensity session displayed how as a community, ports are well-connected and supportive.

Fittingly, the theme of cooperation and collaboration concluded the conference with Jonathan James' talk on London's Freight Plan initiatives and Kim le Clerf's update on EcoStation's emission saving initiatives.

What's on the radar for the future developments? Chris Koniditsiotis provided a refreshingly look at what's already happening with telematics and intelligent transport systems -inspiring thoughts on the possibilities for future "efficiency drivers".

To download Jonathan James presentation on the London Freight Plan initiatives which features detailed practical steps for sustainable freight distribution in urban and regional centres, visit: http://slidesha.re/lLF4Kd

Testimonials from attendees at AusIntermodal 2010: