Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) are working with GS1 Australia to progress an electronic ‘address book’ of freight locations. The National Location Registry will provide reliable and accurate location data across the freight industry. This includes precise locations of loading docks as well as locations of freight sources such as mines, agriculture and construction sites. Further details in the registry will be opening hours, dimension limits, a point of contact, safety requirements and facilities details.

Some of the common use cases that would be well served by having access to up to date, accurate and consistent information about physical locations and that today pose considerable challenges for freight operators include:

• The effective management of trading or operating hours for peak periods.
• Knowing about any safety constraints at a site.
• Understanding what, if any, driver amenities are available.
• Weight/height restrictions.
• Details regarding dedicated truck entry points.
• Other site requirements, for example, drivers must wear hard hats.

This project primarily contributes to the Hub’s purposes of supporting day-to-day operational decisions. Some of the data may also be useful in supporting investment decisions.

As well as GS1 Australia, the industry participants include Woolworths, Coles, Nestle, PepsiCo, Sanitarium, Toll, and Finemores Transport.

The National Location Registry will be established in mid 2021. Data will be shared with registered users, and some aggregate information is expected to be shared publicly on the Hub. Sharing data will encourage new users to join the registry and contribute their data to the project to improve their operational efficiency. Aggregate data could be used to inform regulatory decisions that impact the efficiency or safety of freight locations.