GrainGrowers Connecting the Dots: Improving Australian grain supply chain efficiency

A new report has revealed broken bridges are pounding the bottom line of producers and reducing the nation’s international competitiveness.

Thousands of broken bridges across Australia are forcing truck load limits to be reduced by up to 20 per cent along key grain routes and “significantly” reducing efficiency for cropping operations, according to a GrainGrowers-commissioned report.

The report by LEK consultants, released on Wednesday, found transport costs currently accounted for up to 35 per cent of a farmers’ overall budget.

GrainGrowers chair Rhys Turton said the situation was needlessly increasing truck trips and input costs for farmers and threatening Australia’s international competitiveness.

“Australia needs a freight network that can export Australia’s grain as quickly and efficiently as possible to capture high international prices during times of reduced global supply,” he said.

GrainGrowers chair Rhys Turton. Picture: Richard Wainwright

The report – titled Connecting the Dots: Improving Australian grain supply chain efficiency -stated that of Victoria’s 6000 bridges, “approximately 1000 have been identified as requiring upgrades” and had weight restrictions of 68.5 tonnes or less imposed.

A case study in the report said southern NSW farmers transporting grains to the Port of Melbourne for export are able to operate an AB-triple truck weighing 112 tonnes until crossing the border into Victoria.

However, drivers encounter weight restrictions on the Goulburn Valley Highway in Numurkah, that limit AB-triples to 91.5 tonnes, or a reduction in total vehicle weight of around 20 per cent. Further down the route, restrictions cut loads to 75 tonnes.

The report said the “inefficiencies” increased freight costs from $19 per tonne for an AB-triple to $27 for a B-double.

“Despite the trend towards high productivity freight vehicles, infrastructure has failed to keep pace,” it said.

It said 30,000 fewer trips would have been needed if just 10 per cent of the 2022 harvest was transported by AB-triple heavy vehicles, instead of smaller A-double vehicles.

The report found six key areas – bridge infrastructure, road funding, road regulation, rail, supply chain data and port connectivity – were hampering efficiency and reducing growers’ profitability.

Municipal Association of Victoria president David Clark told The Weekly Times in April that councils needed increased funding for bridge works and changes to how funding is dispensed under the federal government’s $95 million Bridges Renewal Program.

A truck delivers grain to CBH Group's Newdegate storage in WA, November 2021. Picture: CBH Group

Currently, a standard bridge replacement costs about $800,000, but the annual funding limit for bridges sits at only $500,000, meaning the shire can only replace one of its 150 rapidly ageing bridges a year.

“A lot of councils have bridges that are not going to fall over tomorrow, but probably in the next four to five years if we don’t do something about it,” Mr Clark said.