Discussion On Aurizon: Challenges And Strategies For Managing The Intermodal Freight Business

Important Features of Intermodal

Discuss About The Symposium Next Generation Infrastructure?

Aurizon is a publicly listed rail freight company in Australia. The company was formally owned by the Government of Queensland and the company’s assets were transferred to QR National Limited, in July 2010. It is Australia's major rail freight company. The company was established in 2004/05 financial year after Queensland Rail's coal, bulk and containerised business units were brought under one name. The company is formed with a motive to function freight services in Queensland and around Australia. They are constantly expanding by forming business contracts by the acquisition of new businesses. QR National was rebranded in December 2012 as Aurizon (Company Overview, 2017).

The company on an average move more than 700,000 tonnes of coal, iron ore and other minerals across the nation. They have operations across five states in Australia, and manage the 2,670 kilometre Central Queensland coal network linking mines to coal ports at Bowen, Gladstone and Mackay. The company has four main product lines for customers i.e.: Network, Coal, Bulk, and Intermodal. Moreover they are providing with a range of expert services in rail design, engineering, building, organization and protection, and offer extensive supply chain solutions to miscellaneous variety of clientele (Murdoch, 2017).

The success and future growth of Aurizon largely depend upon key demand drivers of the Australian capital division in international market.   This has helped in enhancing continuing power of the Australian economy. Aurizon is well-placed to assist a continuous long-standing expansion in demand for coal and iron ore. It is forming business alliances with the expanding Asian economies such as China and India. They have implemented a chief improvement and business alteration agenda since its privatisation and listing on the ASX in November 2010.  Through the company transformation the company is able to manage– security, customer service, operational brilliance, efficiency, and innovation. They are striving for world-class performance through an effective program.

The long haul domestic intermodal services provide with a cost saving process compared to over-the –truck services. The total saving in this process is greater than any other form of benefit (Christopher, 2016).

This process provides an environmental benefit compared to the other services. A truck transporting cargo on a long distance releases an excess of carbon footprint.  The same amount of cargo when transported via intermodal services releases less carbon.  This will help companies in gaining their sustainable corporate goals (Rushton, Croucher and Baker, 2014).

Reduced carbon emission

By shipping intermodal by rail is 2 times more fuel efficient than by the truck.  The railroad can move a ton of freight over 400 mingles on one gallon of fuel. This creates effectiveness in terms of gaining business goal (Fernie and Sparks, 2014).

The rail services are safer than over-the –truck services.  The number of accidents through the rail road is lesser than the truck.  The rail roads have an outstanding track record of safely transporting the goods.  Additional, rail transportation is safer than any other mean of transportation (Brindley, 2017).

One intermodal train do takes around 300 long haul trucks off of the crowded highways (Waters and Rinsler, 2014).

There is shortage of truck drivers which is likely to increase in coming years. The capacity of long haul truck drivers is also reduced affecting the supply chain. The capacity of drivers is more likely to be affected in coming years creating a wide gap in demand and supply (Brandenburg, Govindan, Sarkis and Seuring, 2014).

The coal hauler and railway owner Aurizon Holdings is willing to cut down a job of 250 people outside Queensland due to underperformance of intermodal freight business. They have closed their intermodal business by selling the business to Pacific National and Lindsay Fox’s Linfox to focus on its core business.   The announcement came out due to its first full year loss from Queensland Rail in 2010.  The organization has signed a deal with the buyer companies which involve 350 people working on it.  It is due to a challenging intermodal market and the abandonment of the overhaul system that led to impairment in the first half (Layt, 2017). Challenges i the intermodal have created a loss with a loss of a $162 Million. Despite of the recent challenges within the intermodal market there are impacts on the cost side of the business causing an overall decline in the profitability.  The company has abandoned a $ 91 million freight management Transformation project launched in 2014 with an aim of consolidating 18 separate legacy system for logistic planning, scheduling, ordering and billing(Chambers,2017).  They are also facing redundancy cost due to the continuous loss faced in the recent time-period. Team Aurizon is planning to get back to the status quo by developing core competencies. In this way they are planning to incorporate changes in a systematic way. The future of intermodal business is based on managing situation in an appropriate way and by designating a solution (Ghaderi, Namazi-Rad, Cahoon and Fei, 2015).  The problem faced by Aurizon has multiple impacts on the future of logistic management and control. The system coordinated project is not delivering value for the business creating a high risk of over spend and delay. It is only through the undertaken of review the company is receiving at present through which they can create future value and position (Abc.net, 2017).

Reduced fuel cost

Data availability is an important part in the decision making process. It influences the preference of most suitable technique and feature to state the accuracy. The pressure for efficiency and effectiveness creates a necessity to provide quality services and product at a reduced cost. Mass invidualization is a product of the reduction in shipment sizes creating an increase in the services.  The intermodal function in today’s market scenario is to serve multiple purposes to achieve goals (Bhattacharya, Kumar, Tiwari and Talluri, 2014).  It aims is to manage the shipment on the international basis within a reasonable time and a competitive basis.  The performance of the framework is to enhance the overall capabilities.  It is related to the location of the cost structure and location transfer point. Some of the concern related to the business structure is playing an appropriate role in handling situation. In managing such a critical situation it is important to manage the cost structure in an appropriate way. For the reason it is evident to manage the loss that is caused due to ineffectiveness of the process (Li, Negenborn and De Schutter, 2015). Any model need to consider the reverse flow necessary to recall and return warranty claim. It is however important to ensure a regular logistic flow. Intermodal is an efficient model that is been used to manage the various inter-related factors. The purpose is to gain the relevancy in case of carrying goods from one place to other (Woxenius, Macharis, Meers and Woodburn, 2017). Intermodal transport is applied to transportation of goods to some hinterland. This operating system allow in managing logistic operations. The purpose can only be met if the extra operating cost included in the operations can be reduced. This allow in managing the excess cost attached to the operator. While integrating the approach related to intermodal concept is to manage the excess cost attached by shifting the negative impact of road transport especially on the road. Moreover it can focus on developing venture with the private sector in order to enhance the productivity. In addition to transportation, Intermodal is operating one of the world’s largest coal rail networks with 2,700 kms of heavy haul rail infrastructure. In the existing context it is connecting mining customers in the Queensland coalfields with key ports.  There are possibilities that the company can excel in the given context if made available. The Operations business should range from specialist services to service the industry as well as rail design engineering. This will ensure the company in managing the loss. By diversifying the technology and effectiveness through applicable enhancement and knowledge development, it is able to manage the changes in a better way. They need to offer large scale supply chain solutions in order to provide a diverse range of customers Australia-wide (Mathisen and Hanssen, 2014).

Improved safety and security

There is a restricted scope in the intermodal industry due to a heavy expense. In order to manage the operation it is important to allow effectiveness not only in the respective model but also in a wider section allowing growth.  Expansion in the field is only possible if the production is carried with an effective project management plan. In this way they are able to take care of the stakeholders as well. In a wider prospect it is relevant for business to justify its existence by managing the operations (Santos, Limbourg and Carreira, 2015; Ghaderi, Cahoon and Nguyen, 2015).  It is widely acceptable in the current context to develop effective tools that will allow in managing the comprehensive plans that are attached with the growth and development.  It isn’t just about transporting freight, but also to provide assurance to the employees regarding the growth and development.  It’s also concerning employees and changing the communities (Li, Negenborn and De Schutter, 2014). It should constantly strive to develop an effective culture to deliver a dynamic environment to people and vigorously encouraging equal opportunity employment in all areas. The rail rods have an outstanding track record of safely transporting the goods.  Additional, rail transportation is safer than any other mean of transportation.

There is wide range of actions taken by the NSW government to resolve efficiency issues and take away barriers in order to gain innovation. The government has a policy to improve the intermodal system through better information.  The short term vision is to develop a strategic vision for NSW freight logistic and to draw the agendas in order to manage the attention. It is the requisite possibilities to manage the freight database for the movement of goods within Sydney. On a medium term, the purpose is to improve freight modelling capabilities and work in order to develop a comprehensive integrated freight model. The project aim to approve Austin projects in order to investigate short term solutions and to examine the feasibility attached to a project. They work with state and federal government to standardise the rail gauges, to develop a long term plan for the container double stacking lastly by prioritising development of an intermodal rail freight terminal.  The government is increasing the efficiency of the transport system through an effective infrastructure and planning provisions. This can only be managed through developing partnership to identify the ground to identify and address freight issues. However it is further recommended to check the feasibility at outside hub.

Reduces highway congestion

It has developed further competitiveness by closely working with the transport commission. This will allow in harmonizing the situation and attain accreditations and approval through an effective mechanism.  The purpose is to address the critical issues taking place at the location of empty containers park, improving an ability to match the slot and to investigate into the matter.  The company can gain possible outcome by arranging the global technology. Research and technology is helping n setting the desired goals and allowing in managing the frequencies in a better way. It is possible to examine the taxation incentives in order to support investment and to allow gaining an appropriate solution to promote productivity. This can only be managed by aligning the goals with the sustainable projects/ the ongoing innovation system help in allocating the desirable possibilities in managing the ill-effects associated with the project. In order to manage the situation, it is the possibility to gain desired sight to manage the task in an appropriate way out. The long term purpose of this model is to manage the operational cost associated with the approach. It is recommended that an agenda must be prepared for actions that help government to device appropriate steps in this sector.  The following action need to be taken in an effective form by managing the actions in the best possible way and to arrange  the desired result in the most appropriate way. It is therefore applicable to gain a definite result by allocating the appropriate insight to manage the wide approach into the sector in managing the functions. The foundation of the industry largely depends upon the growth and development of infrastructure. A strengthen infrastructure will allow in an easy flow of intermodal system. In this way they are able to gain effectiveness through deployment of effective process development on a long run. . Any model need to consider the reverse flow necessary to recall and return warranty claim. It is however important to ensure a regular logistic flow. Intermodal is an efficient model that is been used to manage the various inter-related factors. The purpose is to gain the relevancy in case of carrying goods from one place to other. It is possible to gain appropriate results and to manage the effectiveness associated with the system in the best possible way.

Conclusion

To conclude, the intermodal is an effective way to manage the logistics across the country. It is necessary to manage the challenges that are taking place in the current context by allocating the resources and by managing the work. It is important to gain preciseness in the logistics management and control. This will allow in managing the activities in the best possible way and by allocating the functions in order to maintain the regular supply of goods in Australia.  The changing business scenario and rising necessity of an effective intermodal mechanism is important for gaining the efficiency. In this way the organization will be able to manage the excessive resources. For the reason the NSW Government is also contributing in managing the resources. This is applicable in managing the system in the best possible way. It is therefore necessary in managing the logistic supply through a better intervention and opportunities. This will allow in gaining an effective function and ability on a long run. The function will help in managing activities in the best possible way.  This has helped in enhancing continuing power of the Australian economy. Aurizon is well-placed to assist a continuous long-standing expansion in demand for coal and iron ore. For managing the changes in the environment, Intermodal is an effective function used to manage the functions .  The intermodal is an effective tool to overcome issues occurring at an individual level.  The number of accidents through the rail road is lesser than the truck.  The rail road’s have an outstanding track record of safely transporting the goods. The overall purpose related to the process is to guarantee cost structure and location transfer point. Some of the concern related to the business structure is playing an appropriate role in handling situat

References

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