Domestic Air Cargo Industry in Australia - Bureau of Infrastructure ...

Chapter 8is carried by air in future. Increased use of facsimile machines islikely to further undermine the level of document traffic.Trends in freight rates will affect the amount of cargo that is movedby air. Industry sources indicate that in some cases market growth isa1 ready being restricted by buyer resistance to the level of airfreight rates. At least one carrier has recently shed some low ratedvolumetric cargoes in order to increase average yields.Developments in the road transport industry will also affect the sizeof the air cargo market. Continued upgrading of the national highwaysystem is likely to result in increased competitive pressure on airtransport operators on some routes. In particular, the eventualintroduction of overnight express road services on the Sydney-Brisbaneroute is expected to reduce the amount of traffic available to airtransport operators in the long run. On the other hand, one shippercontacted during the study indicated that a reversal of the recenttrend to lower real freight rates in the road transport industry wouldadversely affect the competitive position of this mode.Two views on the future relationship between the road and air sectorshave been expressed by forwarders. One vjew is that air transportoperators will develop their cargo activities by attracting low-yieldtraffic which is currently carried by road transport. This approachwas used by the trunk airlines when the introduction of wide-bodyaircraft substantially increased their capacity (TAA 1982, 13). Theother view on the development of the air cargo industry is thatoperators will concentrate on urgent, high-yield traffic and withdrawfrom the sectors of the market whereroad transport is highlycompetitive. The approach adopted by the air cargo industry willobviously have a significant effect on the amount of traffic that ismoved by air but there is no general agreement on the direction inwhich the industry will develop.The level of domestic air cargo traffic mayalso be affected bychanges in domestic transport arrangements for international cargo.The Australian Customs Service has proposed the introduction of anIntegrated Cargo Control and Clearance System under which mostinternational cargo will be cleared from Customs control when it isdischarged at the Australian port of arrival. Many forwarders believethat this system will concentrate customs clearance in Sydney andMelbourne and substantially reduce the movement of cargo under bondfor clearance in smaller centres such as Brisbane and Adelaide.In these circumstances, the amount of cargo moved under bond on67