West urgently needs business and job development: Nagel
Mon, Feb 26 2007

Tomorrow morning Dr Pieter Nagel, Director of the Institute for Logistics and Supply Chain Management (ILSCM) at Victoria University, will release his latest research findings to The Committee for Melbourne. The research shows that making Melbourne’s west a ‘National Logistics City’ could generate an economic contribution in excess of $2 billion per year and perform a critical role within the Australian economy.

Dr Nagel said: “Proactive business and job development in logistics plus the associated investment in education and training are required within five to eight years – if this does not occur, the opportunity to make a difference through logistics to the western region will most likely be lost.”

“The pivotal concepts supporting the development of a ‘National Logistics City’ are called ‘enablers’. The three enablers at the heart of the proposal seek to consolidate geographic dispersion in the west; enhance professional and business services and increase transport infrastructure capacity.

“The west has been growing significantly over recent years; the outer municipalities contain some of the fastest growing communities in Australia. In order to support this growth, significant challenges must be met to provide on-going employment opportunities, economic growth and appropriate transport infrastructure.”

In collaboration with the western Melbourne councils, the Western Transport Alliance and the Committee for Werribee, the ILSCM has undertaken a research study to identify potential opportunities afforded through the development of key logistics elements within the region’s economy.

A landmark Position Statement has been developed that proposes that the western Melbourne region integrate its competitive strength in logistics to become a ‘National Logistics City’ stimulating broader, coordinated economic development for the west.

Dr Nagel said: “Melbourne’s west has a considerable wealth of logistics related infrastructure. A significant percentage of the overall Australian economic activity associated with sea and airports occurs in the region. These factors present an economic opportunity for the region that could be enhanced to significantly increase the contribution to Australia’s economy.”

“A ‘National Logistics City’ could improve efficiencies and provide significant additional opportunity, change the development profile and add additional economic opportunity for the west.”

“The statement outlines that developing a professional and business hub that services the operational logistics hubs within ‘the logistics city’ framework is a key priority, which could provide the catalyst to revitalise key western region CBDs and provide a new focus for business confidence.”

“Current projections indicate the outer part of the west will accommodate more than 25 per cent of metropolitan Melbourne’s population growth over the next 25 years. However, the current industry structure of Melbourne’s western region is unlikely to provide employment growth that is in line with the predicted population growth.”

“The west does not contain sufficient self-generating clusters of economic activity capable of attracting additional investment and development. It is estimated that the western region imports about $2.4 billion of business services from other parts of Melbourne.”

“It is projected that the western region will have limited capacity to cope with future movements of people and goods if transport infrastructure develops according to the completion of approved and funded projects and the future pattern of work activity does not change.”

“A challenge exists to provide a strategy that links infrastructure and investment requirements for centres of activity and employment to the recommendations made in earlier studies including the Melbourne 2030 Plan and the WREDS Report.”

“Previous studies consider that the current manufacturing, transport and storage industry base of the western region is not sufficiently robust to provide employment growth in line with regional population growth even though it remains the most significant contributor of wealth to the region.”

“The underlying incentives for business growth in the western region are proximity, access and land price and an effective supply chain network in which a business operates. Barriers to growth in the west are the generally lower skilled workforce from which to draw labour resources; infrastructure deficiencies; road congestion and accessibility. In addition, the western region has two distinct sub-regions – the inner west and outer west, with their own land use/planning regulations that can affect employment and transport decisions.”

“The current population size of the western region is similar to that of cities in Europe and the US, such as Rotterdam, Stuttgart, Boston or Seattle.

“The 2005 population of 616,000 will increase to between 816,000 and 891,000 people by 2023. By 2031 it will certainly exceed 850,000 people. This growth will be concentrated in the outer west municipalities and will be accompanied by a continuing decline in household size and progressively ageing population in the established inner west suburbs.”

Dr Nagel said: “There is a significant freight traffic through the inner west suburbs which places additional pressures on the road networks of the three inner west municipalities and especially Footscray. However, studies indicate that freight movements are just less than 50 per cent of total vehicle movements through Footscray. Light commercial vehicles account for 70 per cent of all goods movements but only carry 10 per cent of freight. Their registration is increasing at almost double the rate of cars, due to the demand for small but regular shipments – called ‘Just in Time’.”

ILSCM proposes that an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) be trialled to assess the contribution such a system can make towards building efficiency for the ‘National Logistics City’, it is proposed that a pilot ITS be trialled. The pilot would be within a corridor that incorporates freeway, train line and associated car parks, buses, taxis and relevant car parks.

This system would allow residents and business, to access sufficient relevant information concerning the actual traffic and public transport situation, and then individuals would make better travel decisions; taking less time to their destination and reducing road congestion.

Dr Nagel said: “The technology to enable the trial already exists, but typically as stand-alone applications. The objective will be to integrate the technologies so that travellers are able to interrogate one database for information about the prevailing traffic conditions.”

The research was undertaken in consultation a wide range of stakeholders, including: Maribyrnong City Council, Melton Shire Council, Wyndham City Council, Hobsons Bay City Council, Brimbank City Council, Moonee Valley City Council, the Western Transport Alliance and the Committee for Werribee. Additionally, a questionnaire was sent to a representative sample of 1200 businesses and 200 residents in the western region.

Media Contact: Andy Gash, Snr. Media Officer,
Marketing & Communications Department, Victoria University
Ph: 03-9919 4950; mobile: 0411 255900

• NLC Report Final.pdf (2 MB)