Transport & Logistics

Australia's largest rail freight hauler Aurizon is continuing to focus on boosting shareholder returns, with its latest profit bolstered by major cost-cutting measures and future spending on growth projects dependent on a recovery in commodity prices.

Rail freight business Pacific National has awarded engineering firm Downer a $1 billion contract to provide maintenance services to 300 of the Asciano subsidiary’s train fleet.

Construction contractor Georgiou, along with two Perth architecture firms, have been selected to work on the $57 million Aubin Grove train station ahead of a final construction tender later this year.

The $1 billion Gateway WA roads project is now 60 per cent finished, six months ahead of schedule, with final completion now projected by mid-2016.

The state government is planning to cap taxi payment fees at 5 per cent, which could cost the sector’s dominant player, Cabcharge, about $4 million a year.

A device targeted at the OH&S market is being taken up by mining, transport and storage industries to cut costs associated with workplace injuries.

People who use ride sharing taxi services are being warned to be cautious when booking private cars.

Shares in transport and warehousing company CTI Logistics have dropped nearly 10 per cent today after a substantial profit downgrade.

Illegal, unsafe, job killing, job creating, monopoly-busting, money saving - Uber may be the taxi industry's worst enemy but it's the adjective's best friend.

BHP Billiton’s plans to renew the lease on its fly-in, fly-out camp on the outskirts of Newman, rather than take up existing empty housing in the town, has prompted a chorus of dissent from Pilbara-focused property groups.

A single contractor has won a $66 million tender to book $2.1 billion worth of federal government travel over four years.

The state opposition claims the MAX Light Rail project is doomed, after a Parliamentary Estimates hearing was today told the government was considering constructing an underground rail line to service the same transport corridor.

Drivers in Western Australia may pay more for vehicle registration or drivers' licences to help the state government pay for transport improvements, the premier has confirmed.

Cabcharge is urging governments to act against ride sharing service Uber, labelling it "illegal and unsafe" and accusing it of tax avoidance.

CTI Logistics has bought 67,000 square metres of land adjacent to its Hazelmere warehousing and distribution centre, in a private deal believed to be worth just under $19 million.

Transport and logistics group Toll Holdings has announced that its marine logistics business will focus on the offshore LNG sector, after completing the sale of several operations in northern Australia and Asia.

The completion of a $65 million infrastructure upgrade at Fremantle harbour is designed to boost the amount of freight carried on rail, but the key players are coy on how much difference the recent investment will make.

A unique partnership is slowly transforming life on the open road.

Regional communities are putting pressure on the WA government and Brookfield Rail to re-open the third tier of the freight network.

Not long after Melbourne-based Blue Tongue was launched in 2001 its founder, Tully Young, recognised that Western Australia had a transport industry skills shortage – so he moved himself and almost half his business to Perth.

When the HMAS Toowoomba leaves Cockburn Sound on deployments as far away as the Middle East, maritime logistics officer Kelly Haywood is in charge of making sure the vessel has everything it needs to make the journey and accomplish the mission.

Our annual Transport and Logistics feature discusses the role of a maritime logistics officer, how a business caters to a skills shortage in the transport industry, the tier 3 rail lines, training for truck drivers in the Pilbara, and the recent completion of the Fremantle harbour rail upgrade.

Western Australia is leading the country when it comes to the cooperative and mutual business sector, with three local operations named amid the nation’s five largest.

Western Australia’s unfair and inefficient taxi industry has unnecessarily cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a leading economist commissioned by motorist advocacy group R

The Fair Work Commission last night issued an order to the Australian Institute of Marine & Power Engineers to end a planned strike by Teekay Shipping’s engineers this morning in Port Hedland.

Work has begun work on upgrades to the Roe Highway-Berkshire Road interchange in Forrestfield, under a deal worth $46.2 million.

The new underground Perth Busport will be delivered on time and $40 million under budget, Transport Minister Dean Nalder says.

Automotive Holdings Group has walked away from a potential sale of its Covs Parts business to Burson Group, which hoped to use the 25 stores as an entry into the WA market.

With the abolishment of the carbon tax, Transperth fares will be reduced by 1.5 per cent from November 1 while a free day of travel has been arranged for November 3 to compensate for fares already charged.

Australia's consumer watchdog is backing calls for more road tolls and lower fuel taxes to fund new roads.

A new competitor for car-booking app Uber has emerged out of Sydney and is setting its sights on Perth as its first stop in an Australia-wide expansion plan.

A subsidiary of Wesfarmers, liquefied natural gas supplier EVOL LNG, has won a deal with Saracen Mineral Holdings to supply 7,000 tonnes of the resource per year to its Carosue Dam operations north of Kalgoorlie for an undisclosed amount.