Business Activity Harmonisation Study (BAHS)

As long ago as the early 1990s, the seminal Warehouse to Wharf analysis of Australia’s cargo-handling practices identified mismatched operating hours among different links of the supply chain as a glaring inefficiency that caused unnecessary expense and frustration for cargo owners and service providers alike. Ten years on, has the situation improved or worsened? What can be done to reduce costs and improve efficiencies? With freight volumes expected to double by 2020 and congestion noticeably growing year by year, the Victorian Government and the freight logistics industry are seeking answers, and need your help.

What is this project?
The Victorian Freight and Logistics Council’s (VFLC) Freight Intermodal Efficiency (FIE) Group, together with the Transport Distribution and Logistics Industry Round Table and key Victorian government departments, are launching the Business Activity Harmonisation Study (BAHS), the first step in a project to improve international containerised cargo supply chains in the Port of Melbourne.

The BAHS, which began in early 2005, is all about industry changing from the inside out: discovering the exact situation that now exists across the local chain; developing realistic solutions to the problems identified; elevating the proposals for national consideration; and implementing the agreed and tested recommendations at a local and national level.

How will it work?
BAHS is a four-stage project structured around the collaborative relationship between industry and government in Victoria. Industry experts, rather than third parties, will be called upon to inject their own experience, in order to ensure:

• accurate identification and weighting of issues
• pragmatic problem-solving and hands-on involvement
• real-world solutions and achievable results

Under a flexible, industry-driven model we expect to maximise participation and results without time-wasting or duplication.

The Business Activity Harmonisation Study is a joint initiative of:

• the Victorian Freight and Logistics Council (VFLC) in conjunction with the Freight Intermodal Efficiency Partner Reference Group
• the Transport Distribution and Logistics Industry Round Table
• the Victorian Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development
• the Victorian Department of Infrastructure

"Mismatch of operating hours is an issue at all Australian ports and this project will deliver Australia’s first-ever action plan for reforming port operating hours, providing benchmarks and templates for all other major ports facing the same issue. We are taking the lead because Victoria’s $16.6 billion TDL sector is central to boosting the State’s productivity and competitiveness and because Australia’s biggest container port, the Port of Melbourne, is one of our most important TDL assets. This study… is part of our whole-of-government approach to making Victoria Australia’s Supply Chain Gateway of Choice."

John Brumby
Minister for State and Regional Development

Further Information:

Business Activity Harmonisation Study (BAHS) – About (PDF size 61kb)
BAHS – Stage One Report(PDF size 1.6mb)
BAHS – Stage Two Report (PDF size 506kb)
BAHS – Stage Four Report (PDF size 7.1mb)

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