RSRO Debacle
If you work in the transport field you'll know all about the RSRO and the ensuing chaos. If you don't work in our industry then you need to know about the RSRO. It has implications beyond just the operators, is fast becoming a political football and by its very nature is inflationary. Our business has been hit by a mini avalanche of requests from operators to complete Contractor Declarations related to the order, despite the fact that in many cases the operator is not even a customer or at most does adhoc pallet/carton shipments with Cochrane's and the RSRO is irrelevant to our business relationship. I'm not pointing the finger at the operators - it is just symptomatic of the confusion that the order has created.
While I understand what the parties behind the RSRO thought they were trying to achieve, much of the logic is flawed and miss-using statistics to support the order doesn't help the argument. Let the NHVR and State based authorities drive safety without trying to impose a pricing structure that only applies to some.
Remember, yesterday's owner/driver is today's Toll, Linfox, TNT, Cochrane's etc. They all started somewhere, so don't crush the owner/operator before they have their shot at success.
PS - the photo attached is historical...not current
GAICD | MBA | Executive | Resources | Governance | Strategy | Stakeholder Engagement
8 年Good to hear from the larger companies side of the issue without the spin that has existed lately.
General Manager at Mercedes-Benz Unley
8 年Well written article Bruce. I think most people agree that road safety is of paramount importance in our industry but simply imposing a greater cost burden on the whole supply chain doesn't fix the issue. Owner Operator/Contractors play a very important role in the road freight/logistics industry particularly in regional and low freight volume areas and this initiative will force many out of the business. The big players simply don't have the capacity to take up the slack and ultimately the RSRO will simply drive up costs without addressing the fundamental road safety problem that it purports to be trying to address.
General Manager at Source Buy Sell
8 年Great article.