A report by transport industry not-for-profit Transport Education Audit Health Compliance Organisation Ltd. (TEACHO Ltd.) and backed by the industry has revealed transport operators suffer as one of the lowest profit segments in the economy, and that the flow-on impacts—including long hours and low wages—significantly reduce productivity in the sector.
The research is backed by transport operators including Linfox, ACFS, Toll and Team Global Express, transport clients including Coles, and industry organisations including the Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation, NatRoad, the National Road Freighters Association and the Transport Workers Union.
It has found that despite transport operators languishing at the bottom of the economy’s profit tables at two thirds less than the national average, the clients they provide services to have much higher profits—but are largely unaccountable for their actions. The study demonstrates the large client profits are built by increasingly shifting work to cheaper, more dangerous operators with devastating human and economic consequences.
The consequences of this low profit squeeze from the top of road transport supply chains include declining productivity as drivers bear the deadly pressure to work long hours, as well as low wages causing skills drain and critical shortages in the industry.
As well as productivity loss, razor-thin profit margins have dire safety implications, with transport operators and drivers forced to cut corners to make ends meet.
Download: TEACHO 2024 Supply Chain Report