Challenges and Recommendations for Intermodal Operations in Melbourne

This report identifies the challenges faced by intermodal operations in Melbourne, specifically ACFS, and provides recommendations to overcome them. The challenges include geographical, demographical, environmental, legislative, and technological challenges. The involvement of Melbourne Government is also discussed. The report suggests that the government should minimize traffic congestion on roads and introduce separate lanes for all kinds of vehicles. It also recommends ACFS to use emerging technologies and integrate its systems with suppliers to increase efficiency.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL INTERMODAL
International Intermodals / Hubs
[ACFS, Melbourne]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary
This study is mainly aimed at identifying a few challenges that the intermodal operation in
Melbourne faces. To serve the purpose ACFS is being chosen as the intermodal company in this
report. This report also produce some recommendations to help ACFS overcome a few
challenges and encourage the contribution from the Melbourne Government in providing better
business environment to intermodal companies.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Problem Analysis.........................................................................................................................3
2.1 The main problems at with the current logistics network in Melbourne...............................4
3. Recommending the probable solutions and finding any involvement of the government in the
solution............................................................................................................................................9
4. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
Intermodal transport is a large network of freight movement system spread across the
globe. An intermodal transport indirectly impacts the economic state of a country. It does so by
carrying a huge amount of loads in standardised containers to its destination. Such a journey to
the scheduled destination is travelled through every single mode of transport. However, the type
of movement depends on the intermodal company and its strategy for connecting with a range of
diverse terminals. The range of terminals is comprised of various mode of transports like road,
rail, ship and air (Li, Negenborn and De Schutter 2015). Having spread across the worldwide
nations, the intermodal freight operations are bound to meet with challenges. It actually faces so
many challenges. These challenges are being covered in the later section of this report.
The main purpose of this report is to identify a number of problems the freight companies
face in Melbourne. The purpose is being served in this report specifically in context to the
chosen freight company “ACFS”. ACFS Port Logistics (ACFS) was found and established in
December 2005 by Arthur Tzaneros and Terry (Auscfs.com 2019). The company started with a
vision to become one of the leading names in the industry in providing warehousing, freight
logistics and transport services in Australia. Since its inception it has continually grown. Few
reasons that boosted its growth include enhanced focus on customer satisfaction, utilisation of
advanced and emerging technologies, growing number of skilled and committed workers and
adherence with standard legislative guidelines (Auscfs.com 2019).
2. Problem Analysis

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This section of this report identifies a range of problems, which the intermodal operations
face in Melbourne. Collecting such information is necessary to make suitable recommendations,
so that, the chosen intermodal company could perform better than now.
2.1 The main problems at with the current logistics network in Melbourne
An intermodal operation in Melbourne and in Australia contributes strongly to the
country’s economy. This is the reason why it is important to study these problems carefully and
identify the possible way outs. Nevertheless, implementation of these solutions would require the
assistance from the chosen intermodal company and also the Melbourne Government. Indeed,
the role of Melbourne Government in context to the highlighted urgency is of higher importance.
It is because this will help to attain a sustainable business practice of intermodal freight
transportation. As stated earlier in this report, the intermodal operations in Melbourne face a
variety of problems. These are (Qu, Bektaş and Bennell 2016):
 Geographical challenges
 Demographical challenges
 Environmental challenges
 Legislative challenges
 Technological challenges
 Other challenges
Geographical challenges
“Traffic Congestion” in major cities like Melbourne is a major issue for the intermodal
transportation (Behdani et al. 2016). On roads, huge traffics are usual scenes during the
weekday. It is mainly during every morning and afternoon peak hours. Despite a fact that

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freeways and motorways have been created to resolve the issue, the issue still persists. It is
mainly because the number of cars in urban areas is still increasing. The congestion can
significantly increase the travel time and hence, will affect the logistics operations. Notably, time
span is an important factor in context to the shipment of orders. This affects the market
reputation of the concerned intermodal company.
“Road Changes” is a common site on Melbourne roads. Adjustment and modification of
roads to help control the traffic flow especially in certain local areas are common sites. Highway
upgrades do also happen on a frequent basis. These improvement works cover a significant
portion of the roads and do affect the movement of vehicles. At times there are situation that
roads are blocked and closed off. In all these situations, vehicles are forced to use available
motorways. These motorways often have a toll, which affects the efficiency of transportation.
The suburban streets especially those were schools are located have strict restriction for heavy
vehicles for entering these areas. These traffic adjustment rules affect the travel times of
intermodal movement.
“Distance” is one of the major challenges being faced by ACFS. There is a huge road
distance between two different cities in Australia. For an example, a road distance between
Sydney and Melbourne is 880 kilometers. In general, a road trip between Sydney and Melbourne
will even go above 10 hours of travel time (Bernal 2016). Such a long travel is not just peaceful
but rather full of challenges. Intermodal freight transport has to cover also the remote areas.
These areas have very few petrol stations being installed there. Hence, extra fuel is needed to
carry to avoid the shortage of fuels. Drivers are really tested while covering such a long distance
on a regular basis. They may get tired and exhausted. Such a long trip can affect their health as
well. Hence, such a kind of work pressure may discourage drivers from continuing with the

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current intermodal company. Consequently, the concerned intermodal company will be in
pressure to look for new drivers. This will also affect the operation until the company is able to
fill the gaps.
Demographical challenges
“Ageing population” is a serious concern for Australia. It is even a serious concern for
the logistics industry. In Australia, people are somehow forced to work beyond the normal
retirement age, which is 65 (Scott, de Courten and Ebeling 2017). These people do it to keep
creating incomes to be able to handle their daily means. Their survival at office places is
relatively less challenging than being in the logistics industry. It is due to the work nature. Doing
jobs in logistics industry is challenging because of the nature of work. It has already been stated
in the above paragraph that road distances between two cities are very higher in Australia.
Hence, drivers in particular are needed to travel a long till they reach to the destination. The
journey also includes remote areas where there are less number of petrol stations and some other
basic facilities are available. It, therefore, becomes challenging to get the fuel every time it is
required. To counter this challenge, vehicles have to carry the extra fuel.
In addition to the issue being highlighted in the above paragraph, driving through roads to
travel such a long journey causes “drivers” to get tired. With this the chances of getting down
with physical illness also increases. It is evident that old people will find this job more difficult
than the young people. Their physical ability will be less compatible with the nature of the work
as compared to the young people. This will eventually affect the workforce in the nearing future.
Moreover, there will be difficulties in balancing the demand and supply.
Environmental challenges

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The “climate and environmental conditions” in Australia is a growing challenge to
logistics industry. The different kind of waste and air pollution is a growing pain for not only to
the society but also to the businesses. The growing air pollution has its adverse impact on the
health of people. People are getting addicted with a range of different diseases like asthma
(Lelieveld, Haines and Pozzer 2018). Such news are nowadays circulated on various media
platforms like the daily newspapers and popular news channels. This is how people are getting to
know these facts and becoming aware of precautions to adapt to the changing environment. They
are increasingly becoming selective with their selection of the products and services. It is now
imperative for employers to ensure that they meet the specifications for their specific carbon
footprint. It is a pressure situation for every single industry especially to the logistics. The
industry is a major contributor to air pollution.
“Hot weather” is another major issue. High temperatures can be found in larger part of a
year. The summer season is generally throughout the year from late September to the last week
of April. High temperatures are problematic for vehicles being used for the freight transport and
also for the drivers. Railway lines get affected in summer. Due to the conduction of metal
railway lines get buckled frequently. Lines those are run with electricity also face trouble to
counter the negative impact of higher temperatures. Rod shipments under hot conditions become
vulnerable to higher temperatures. It is challenging for the intermodal company to keep products
fresh until a longer period of time. To sustain the business in this situation, it becomes imperative
to use emerging and latest technologies. However, identifying and implementing appropriate
technologies is not an easy task to commence.
Legislative challenges

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The legislative structure in Australia is not very supportive and can create more worries
to logistics industry. “Funding Disagreements” are a common issue in Australia. This may
have an impact on the logistics industry. Both State and Federal governments play a significant
role in creating and providing funds to certain developments like infrastructure, education and
health. The issue begins with disagreements over who should be paying. Each of the government
has strict budget and they try to adhere to it as well. Such clashes of thoughts and practices can
delay projects. If this happens this will become more critical to the logistics industry. For an
example, if there are few roads under repairing and the funding is delayed due to one or all of the
above-cited reasons, the road transit will suffer. All deliveries going by the affected roads will
fail to deliver the shipment on time.
“Transport Regulations” can also affect the intermodal operations. There are conditions
when over-loading is required especially when there are shortage of transport vehicles. Transport
regulations do not easily permit such cases. The additional permit that is required for all these
cases are hard to be obtained. These permits require certain criteria to be fulfilled. Passing these
set of criteria the particular vehicle will be eligible to get the permit.
Technological challenges
“New technology” can be costly to ACFS. For an example, an increasing carbon
footprint of ACFS will require the company to identify and implement some technology to
reduce its greenhouse gas emission impact. This could be anything such as replacing the old
trucks with a one upgraded with latest technology and emitting comparatively less CO2. It is just
an example; however, the scope of technology is much bigger than just upgrading a vehicle. This
can be used for integrating vehicles with advanced technologies such as GPS tracking system. A
GPS enable truck can be easily tracked and so can be controlled. However, it does not mean that

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a GPS enabled truck will be able to cross every barrier on the road (Zhang, Yang and Zhang
2017). It is just that the connectivity between the drivers and ACFS will enhance.
“Lack of Integration between Systems” is also a technical challenge that is
significantly affecting the logistics industry. A traditional model of business is still being
followed largely. Instead, there is a need to have a bonding between suppliers and employers, so
that, efficiency of operations gets increased. Suppliers to ACFS are generally those who provide
them drivers, trucks, empty containers, empty containers’ handling machines, workers,
contractors, sub-contractors and others. A business floated over such a complex network and is
still not being much into the integrated network will suffer to establish an effective
communication with suppliers.
Other challenges
“Incrementing Fuel Prices” is a major issue for any mode of intermodal transportation.
This will affect all modes such as road, rail, ship, and air transportation (Levin et al. 2017). This
will eventually elevate the resulting operational costs.
“Security threats” is another major concern. Theft and damage of assets is a growing
practice in freight transport especially in road transport. Although new vehicles are ensured but
still incidents of theft and asset damage will affect the national economy. This will also affect
drivers and the intermodal company such as ACFS. An incident of theft or asset damage will be
a loss of reputation for ACFS. Hence, it is important that freight movement are made much more
secured. By doing this ACFS will be able to edge past its competitors.
3. Recommending the probable solutions and finding any involvement of the government in
the solution

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This section covers a few areas of recommendation to help ACFS overcome some of the
challenges highlighted in this report. However, these recommendations will alone not help ACFS
overcome these barriers to sustainable practice. Instead, the role of government would also be
highly valuable in this regard. Hence, this section will cover recommendations separately for
ACFS and the Melbourne Government.
Recommendations for the Melbourne Government
The first point of recommendation will be to minimize the traffic congestion on roads.
Although, this cannot happen in just few days. This will rather require a continuous quality
improvement efforts from the Melbourne Government. The government can proceed with
introducing separate lanes to all kinds of vehicles. Although this wouldn’t be possible at all the
places. Additionally, this will require huge spending to be made over constructing new lanes.
This looks significantly challenging considering that the Melbourne Government is very strict
with its budget. However, bringing major areas under separate lanes should work.
Funding disagreements is in the hands of federal and state governments. They should
find some way outs to support a sustainable business practice to intermodal company like ACFS.
The last point of recommendation will be to introduce some modification to the permit
allowance process. Special situations like overloading need to be supported with effective
strategies, so that, permits are provided easily to the intermodal company.
Recommendations for ACFS
The first recommendation for ACFS will be to reduce its carbon footprint. ACFS should
allow permits to those suppliers who provide only the upgraded vehicles. The upgraded vehicles
are integrated with latest technology and hence, will comparatively emit less CO2 than the old

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vehicles. In addition, ACFS should also focus on reducing its waste. It can any form of waste
such as the scrapped goods. Scrapped goods should be deported to its assigned place within an
accepted period of time.
The second recommendation will be to counter the high temperatures in Australia.
“Cold Chain” is the one way out of dealing with high temperature issue. Cold chain will help to
keep products fresh.
Lack of integration with suppliers is the last point of recommendation for ACFS. This
can be established and enhanced by implementing ERP system. An ERP provides an access to
large-scale data of the different business units in ACFS. It provides a one stop platform to access
a range of data from various business units in real-time. By implementing this ACFS will be able
to view their orders made to suppliers and the transaction history. Moreover, this will impact the
communication with suppliers.
4. Conclusion
To conclude, this can be said that intermodal operation in Melbourne is surrounded with
many challenges. Some of those challenges are being covered in this report. ACFS being one of
the leading intermodal companies in Melbourne and Australia should consider the recommended
strategies mentioned in this report. The Melbourne Government can also support ACFS in
attaining business sustainability. This will just require their earnest contribution in improving the
road condition, sorting out the funding disagreements and allowing permits in special cases.

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References
Auscfs.com 2019. ACFS | Port Logistics. [online] Auscfs.com. Available at:
https://www.auscfs.com/ [Accessed 16 Jan. 2019].
Auscfs.com 2019. Our Company | ACFS. [online] Auscfs.com. Available at:
https://www.auscfs.com/about/ [Accessed 16 Jan. 2019].
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Bernal, L.M.M.D., 2016. Basic parameters for the design of intermodal public transport
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Lelieveld, J., Haines, A. and Pozzer, A., 2018. Age-dependent health risk from ambient air
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income countries. The lancet Planetary health, 2(7), pp.e292-e300.
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Li, L., Negenborn, R.R. and De Schutter, B., 2015. Intermodal freight transport planning–A
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Technologies, 60, pp.77-95.

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