Logistics & Supply Chain Management Report: NSW Challenges & Qube

This report identifies and analyzes the logistics and supply chain management issues in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, with a specific focus on Qube Logistics. It highlights major challenges such as traffic congestion, regional distances, environmental concerns, and coordination problems impacting Qube's operations. The report discusses potential solutions like intermodal transport development, improved transport links, and the application of logistics management theories such as contingency theory. It further explores the role of technology and sustainable practices in mitigating these issues. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of strategic planning and adaptation to overcome logistical hurdles and enhance efficiency in the NSW context. Desklib offers more resources for students.

Running Head: MANAGEMENT 0
Logistics and Supply chain management

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
NSW logistics issues..................................................................................................................3
Major Issues...............................................................................................................................3
Regional challenges...............................................................................................................3
Environmental challenges......................................................................................................4
Other challenges.....................................................................................................................5
Issues that can be resolved.........................................................................................................5
Recommendations......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
This report outlines the existing logistics concern in relation to the organisation named Qube
logistics situated in Australia. There are numerous logistics facilities offered by Qube
logistics like road transport and services, transportation through railways, warehouses at
several sites and some other facilities related to supply chain and logistics. With the time, the
company attains high level of success in area of transport and logistics service (Krishnan &
Winter, 2010).
Qube logistics limited was rebranded and founded in 2010 with investment trust under some
standard operating company. The headquarter of enterprise is situated in Sydney, NSW and
the company is currently serving the people of Australia by establishing their footprint in
various industries such as logistics, rail transport, warehousing and stevedoring. In addition,
Qube leases locomotives from CFCL Australia. At 29 ports in Australia, Qube provides
freight handling and stevedoring facilities. The managing director of the company is Maurice
James and Allan Davies is represented as chairman in the enterprise.
In market, Qube logistics has established positive and reliable brand image with huge
customer base and since last few years, the company also evolves to be as a market leader
and supplier with their largest logistics service in Australia. The company always focused on
significant touch point of their clients and their growth can be seen with the immense trust
and satisfaction from clients. The organisation present plans and strategies comprise of
development of new sites and hub. In all area of logistics, the company has maintained both
their strengths stand, however, planning to develop in to other means of transportations like
railways. In addition, the company also focuses on fast adoption of technological equipment
used in area of logistics so as to bring positive outcomes and superior results (Yin, 2010).
The report signifies the existing logistics issues faced in the New South Wales in Australia.
Australia is a developed country with excellent geographical, demographical, environmental
and political situation; however, there are several issues and problems in relation to logistics
and transportation in NSW. Therefore, this report describes all these present issues with their
impact on Qube logistics and its supply chain. Moreover, their impact on national and
international logistics business in Australia is also being analysed including the associated

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challenges (SteadieSeifi et al, 2014). All these aspects connected with area of logistics and
transportations are presented and serve the agenda of report.
NSW logistics issues
NSW is a vast and growing state where the logistics services are being affected with the
increasing population and users of the vehicles. The four-wheeler users are also increased due
to the rising population in the state. The impact of this can be seen in problems related to
traffic and blockage (Xu et al, 2016). During the peak hours, traffic blockages become a huge
issue for transporters and it also blocks the routes of various logistics vehicles (Cho, Kim &
Choi, 2012).
This disturbance causes unintentional alteration in schedules that were fixed earlier for
successful deliveries. However, some different routes are being offered through government
planning for heavily loaded logistics vehicles but some certain issues still persist. One of the
certain issues is in form of construction sites. The construction work is in progress in various
nearby highways that directly impact on journey time of transporters as most of drivers are
unaware about the reconstruction and so get stuck in these sorts of problems.
Major Issues
There are several issues with the roads as in some districts; contractor built them actually
majorly meant for decrease in traffic jams. However, the government had modified the
approach and policies while focusing on local areas (Barney, 2012). They also consider the
troll road seriously, where the time of travel was high and at times there is a blockage on the
road due to construction purposes. Below there is a discussion of various sorts of obstacles
and also efforts to reform the transformation system in NSW.
Regional challenges
One of the major problems that is been faced is the distance with the Qube enterprise that is
measured between cities. Some of distance problems are noted when the measurement comes
out of 880 kilometres between Sydney and Melbourne. Considering other modes of
transportations, even rail drive may not be effective option as it takes time, there are less

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number of petrol stations in comparison with roads and is important when the transportation
comes. Qube enterprise needs to focus on cost and time aspects while assessing and
examination involved while travelling. There are certain answers to the logistics problem and
some theories associated with these issues. It also includes specific transportation route
comprising mining sites with the locations containing specific complex transportation. A
planning need to be undertaken with due importance while evaluating the long distance and
journeys that are difficult and also there is need to consider alternative routes which can be
proved beneficial in near future.
Transportation with train is a conductive method and it is also expanded widespread
considering the country and city. These practices are very much beneficial and support to
overcome the issues associated with road services. Other issue noticed includes driver
exhaustion as of travelling continuously for long distances. Moreover, they also handle the
burden by the firm due to respective deliveries on time. The impact of this issue can be seen
with injuries and accidents causing painful for dependents including some of revealing deaths
(Mitra et al, 2012).
Environmental challenges
Transportation services also face various challenges in transportation services and thus it is
important to explore climate change that directly impacts the system of transportation (Bruns
et al, 2014). Moreover, green logistics is followed by the company considering this issue.
Qube enterprise is also concern about minimum pollution and the waste that is needed to
encounter. With application of theories, Qube enterprise reveals that their main goal is to
create renewable energy as in near future, it will be largely considered.
In addition, huge jams also become the issue when the season changes to winter and due to
congestion and snowfall. In cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland, roads need to be
closed at a time when snowfall is happening (Corry & Kozan, 2008). Earlier travelling on
those roads was not so dangerous and but now the scenario has been changed. Moreover, in
other parts of the country especially in Southern Wales where there is established terminals
and ports by the organisation, it causes to be dangerous while travelling. Hence, these are the
issues leading to delays and here theories associated with logistics can be applied so as to
identify alternative options readily available. There is also rail track that can create big

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problems due to trapped in snowfall and it has usually occurred at some location as of the
cause of the location point.
Contradictory, the climate is tremendously hot in summer season and it impacts the railway
logistics from the month of September to April due to extreme hot climate circumstances.
Due to conduction of the metals, some of the railway lines is buckled. In addition, it creates a
huge impact on perishables items, as they require cool temperature with proper maintenance.
Considering effective refrigeration, one is required to manage meat and fish items with help
of proper storage system (Duan & Liao, 2013).
Other challenges
NSW logistics issues also proved to be beneficial for the growth of freight transport and
international trade. There are various problem that NSW is facing such as services,
coordination issues, and building of intermodal interfaces. The cities are connected with each
other as there are fewer modals giving enough nodes and transport links. There is very less
number of organisations who are offering large-scale logistics services like air and rail
transport instead of having huge ports in NSW. Some of the other issues faced by NSW
include traffic, congestion on roads, dry orts and high emission. It is very significant to
enhance the logistics service with the rise in exports and imports needs under NWS. It will
also help to deliver more carriage and logistics services for quicker and greater services.
Unimodal, an earlier transport model has been embraced in which development of road and
rail based projects implemented in different sort of ways focusing depth analysis and factors
related to future development. Yet, more than one mode of transport is used by multimodal
for delivering goods to the respective destinations. The focused is given on intermodalism
comprising links, transport nodes with substantial services along with growth of rail, roads
and seaports.
Issues that can be resolved
Development and implementations intermodal for transport will be the best solution for NSW
to eliminate the logistics problems. There are more than one unit or mode of transport in
intermodal effective for distribution of goods. Various routes also are open up through

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airways, seashores and the road transport for NSW. The services will be improved with help
of this mode of transportation. The import and export system will be better and quicker with
ports to be developed considering the international and national transport. For transportation
and logistics, every mode of transport will be available and accessible (i.e. seas, rivers, inland
ports and airports). Giant organisation like Qube logistics and enterprise are already
developed various plans with exploration of these factors and aspects. They also introduced
their logistics service with help of rail and airport services. Hence, there will be many
opportunities with NSW in terms of logistics business (Swinney, 2011). With eliminating
transportation problems faced by NSW, improvement can also be possible in transport links
such as highways, railways and the inland waterways. These transportation links can also be
introduced for logistics services by concerning environmental issues. For all this, a blueprint
of master plan needs to be developed which links many cities of NSW with one another and
thus control the logistics and transportation services. Earlier, the first mode of transport was
railways to carry freight but now they all run on energies and created a tough competitive
position with contribution in the services of transportation. Therefore, in NWS, intermodals
will prove to be beneficial for developing the logistics and transportation services.
Considering public transportation, it is also identified that the flow of traffic can be reduced
and thus help to function the operations well. It is possible to relocate the organisation and
may vendor in some storerooms that can be established nearby so that the traffic can be
reduced and does not influence the delivery time including transportation (Pearce, &
Taniguchi, 2008). There are various procedures enable heavy materials in some cities and this
is fixed during the timings effectively followed. There should also be different special entry
timings in exclusion of travelling rules and standards considering transportation of heavy
materials.
In addition, a planning specialist can also prove to be beneficial who can effectively examine
the route with heavy traffic that may lead to obstruction if not carried out with the situations
(Assadipour, Ke & Verma, 2015). Some of the situations are reverse related to number of
trips and the rise in the loads that many not surpass with the weightiness of materials and the
vehicle with some maximum limit that needs to be provided. At this end, there are some
bigger loads also and this is the dissimilar mode of transportation which will be beneficial in
decreasing the trips to lesser modes like railways. Certain terminals can also be considered
including local suppliers.

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In terms of logistics management theories, the contingency theory can effectively be applied
with the Qube enterprise. Planning and implementation stage will be included in
methodology of supply chain management with controlling of certain functions in supply
chain (Rong, Akkerman & Grunow, 2011). SCM then randomly spans the drive which will
be beneficial in storage of materials. Later on, it works as work in progress stock that realised
in the finished goods. This practice starts from the point of beginning and it helps to sustain
till the point of consumption.
Recommendations
In logistics, Qube enterprise has many modes and this can be prearranged in align with
supply chain management by the NSW considering economy mode as there will be easiness
in the transportation. Moreover, the rail logistics need to be organised in an economical
manner and assess the issues faced by logistics enterprise in relation to railway line. Many
economical logistics are present with cost effectiveness that can be prearranged considering
rail routes and there is also need to undertake various aspects of climatic situations while
formulating supply chain management in logistics (Li, Mangena & Pike, 2012).
For the betterment of Qube logistics and its effective logistics operations, majorly factors are
connected with the government factors. If NSW government allow various changes related to
permits and transport systems, Qube logistics and other enterprise functions can be improved.
There are motorways in the organisation that are acrossly developed in these contracts with
the help of NSW. Considering government officials and road changes, it can be sustainably
implemented. As Qube logistics needs to consider the issues in Australia, the government
will help by developing and reconstructing the avenue into a better facility. It will also impact
the better transportation and there may be different ways while NSW provides assistance to
firms with their facilities and rates for reconstructions.

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Conclusion
The report highlights the important features of an intermodal located in NSW. Moreover, it
also includes some significant strategies to resolve any problem related to operational aspects
of the organisation. This involves the support of NSW government in terms of various
permits and capital. Logistics management plays an important role in an organisation
operations area management and the support needs to be given from all perspectives. The
government can also allow subsidies or some sorts of relaxation for encouraging intermodals.
In Australia, there are major challenges facing by Qube logistics sector and problems that
need to explore and analysed with help of logistics theories of contingencies. In terms of
recommendation, the supply chain management is a better option including both international
and domestic form of logistics. There are somewhat equal challenges but with proper
strategies and solutions, it can be effectively carried forwarded. There are some issues that
are being resolved and some plans that can be adopted by Qube enterprise to eliminate
challenges with help of NSW government. Considering planning relating to rail logistics,
NSW government funds play an important role in the usage of infrastructure. This all will
relocate rail logistics in an economical manner and brings various positive outcomes
considering many aspects.

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References
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