FREIGHT services on the Darling Downs and into North Queensland are set to benefit from a new intermodal transport option which will commence in February.
Linfox has secured an agreement to purchase Aurizon’s Queensland Intermodal business (QIB), which is being touted as a win for jobs on the Darling Downs.
The deal is set to ensure vital freight services into and out of regional towns are preserved.
Under the deal almost 200 Aurizon employees, freight forwarding, pick-up and delivery assets and rail wagons will transfer to Linfox on January 31, 2019.
Linfox President Intermodal Ian Strachan said the agreement would secure service continuity and provide certainty to employees.
“Not only will this agreement deliver service continuity to customers, it provides much needed certainty to the employees and communities who have been living in doubt for two years and who would have been impacted if the Aurizon intermodal business had closed,” Mr Strachan said.
Mr Strachan said businesses operating into and out of Northern Queensland would have a new and compelling logistics option under the new business model.
He said integrated road and rail services would provide greater speed and efficiency in delivering goods to market.
“We’re now positioned to realise the full potential of the business and bring greater access, competition and service to customers operating within the region,” Mr Strachan said.
“This is just one way that we’re looking ahead to play a greater role in the success of Queensland, our customers and Australia more broadly.”
The agreement will increase the scale and scope of the freight forwarding services offered by Linfox to customers delivering freight to Northern Queensland. It will also increase Linfox’s Queensland-based pick-up, delivery and warehousing capability.
InterLinkSQ general manager Blair Batts said he welcomed any move to increase freight services throughout Queensland.
“Certainly the benefits of intermodal are well documented in aggregating the product in one location, or co-location of the freight market, it drives down cost through efficiency gains through different modes of transport,” Mr Batts said.
Mr Batts said there was not a significant amount of intermodal transport in Queensland to date and most was moving containerised products via truck to the ports.
“The majority of our intermodal or containerised product is agricultural commodities through the Port of Brisbane, with the majority exported.
“There is very little that continues up the north coast, there is not a lot of interaction between those lines.
“We are pleased that Linfox has identified the Darling Downs as a key spot for intermodal and we are very keen to understand what their plans and future vision holds for intermodal in the region.”
