Linfox and Pacific National’s 10-year rail freight agreement demonstrates the power of partnerships in reshaping Australia’s freight industry.
Transitioning more freight from road to rail is a key element of Linfox’s Leading the Way strategy and crucial to meeting Australia’s growing freight decarbonisation task.
Eighty-five per cent of Linfox’s emissions stem from diesel fuel use, despite significant investment in fleet and training to reduce them.
Rail, however, is more energy efficient and safer. Despite these advantages, rail has lost trust with some of our customers due to disruptions caused by natural disasters, derailments and signaling problems. This makes it difficult for rail to compete with Australia’s reliable road network.
Poor funding is partly to blame. The Australian rail network receives a fraction of the total transport infrastructure budget.
Nevertheless, Linfox is the largest containerised rail freight user and remains optimistic about the future of Australian rail and we continue to invest in strategically located railhead facilities nationwide. Our partnership with Pacific National and our recently opened Linfox Adelaide Freight Terminal, along with our other nine co-located sites, is testament to this.
We continue to urge federal and state governments to focus their efforts on improving the resilience of our interstate freight rail network and restore trust in this critical mode of transport.
Our safety evolution
Linfox recently celebrated a record-low total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) of 5.8, reflecting a 50 per cent reduction in injuries compared to six years ago.
Over the past five or so years, we have transformed our safety efforts to focus on a human-centric approach. Recognising the value of involving our people in the conversations, we adopted a risk-based approach based on employee engagement and guidance.
We introduced the 4Ds process to encourage team members to share perspectives on anything they find Dumb, Difficult, Different, or Dangerous in their roles. Asking better questions and understanding the reality of daily tasks, has led to more honest conversations, enhanced team culture and driven positive safety outcomes.
While we celebrate this milestone, we also recognise that our commitment to safety must remain relentless, and our work will never be finished.
Linfox Driver Academy nurtures future talent
We currently have 100 active participants in the Linfox Driver Academy across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, with a notable 17 per cent female participation rate.
Launched last year, the academy supports our people in obtaining a heavy rigid, heavy combination, or multi-combination licence, while gaining on-the-job experience as a full or part-time employee.
The successful implementation of the Driver Academy has inspired us to commence development of an additional new academy for warehouse staff as well. We will update you in our next edition.