Article: Rail, sea urged to replace road freight

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From ABC News click here!

Rail, sea urged to replace road freight

Rail, sea urged to replace road freight

The freight industry is being urged to move away from road transport because of spiralling fuel prices.

An International Cargo Handing Coordination Association meeting in Adelaide has been told the use of trucks for freight movement cannot be sustained.

Civil engineer and economist Scott Elaurant says, unless the world cuts its oil consumption by six per cent by 2012, demand will exceed supply.

He says it could be possible to reduce demand for oil by focusing on sea and rail as freight options.

"With reasonable reliability that the supply isn't going to go up, we need to do things to bring the demand down," he said.

"If we succeed in that then there's no reason the price to rise necessarily in real terms very much further than it has."

Adelaide-Darwin rail operator FreightLink says demand for its service is rising and it will start running a sixth weekly rail service across Australia from this week.