Freight Transport in South Australia

South Australia is connected with a network of road, rail, sea and air transport. Adelaide, the capital city, is central to the freight network which caters for pallet freight, bulky goods transport and courier services. It has a population of 1.1 million people, which accounts for most of the population of the entire state, which is 1.6 million. South Australia’s major airport and seaport is located in Adelaide.

South Australia boasts an extensive road network, which connects its regional centres and other smaller towns. As such, private cars form a significant proportion of transport throughout the state. Adelaide’s closest city is, in fact, Melbourne, which is 800 kilometres to the east. This says something about how remote Adelaide is and how necessary air transport is in the transport system.

The Adelaide Airport is the main airport in South Australia and the fifth busiest in all of Australia. It serviced more than 8 million passengers in the 2016 calendar year which was an increase of 2.5%. The most significant increase was its international passengers, with an additional 50,000 people travelling overseas. Adelaide Airport continues to expand its services with flights to Kangaroo Island by Qantaslink, daily flights to Doha with Qatar Airways and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner services to Auckland with Air New Zealand.

The first official flight from England to Australia was made by Adelaide brothers Ross and Keith Smith in 1919. The Commonwealth Government had offered a prize of £10,000 to the first Australians to fly from England to Australia in less than thirty days. They were knighted by His Majesty, George V, on December 22, 1919. Sixteen years earlier the Wright brothers had flown the first powered aircraft. A memorial building at Adelaide Airport commemorates the achievement of the Smith brothers and the plane flown by them is on public display inside the building. The Vimy Walk which starts at Terminal 1 and takes you to the memorial building describes each stop that the Vickers Vimy bomber (Registration G-EAOU) made on its historic journey from England to Australia.

South Australia borders all the mainland states and as such is a land transport hub. However, the only railway link exists in the town of Port Augusta, which lies at the top of the Spencer Gulf, along with one of only two sealed road links from the eastern states. Nearly all main freight being transported on land passes through this town. In the year June 2015-16, South Australia’s overseas goods exports totalled $11.6 billion, which was an increase in 2.7 per cent, or $306 million, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. These figures showed that South Australia performed considerably better than the national average.

Freight Quote Australia provides freight transport services all over South Australia. We use multimodal transport to ship your goods within the state and between major capital cities in the most effective way possible and have access to HIABs and crane trucks. Our friendly and reliable staff ensure that you are kept up to date with the status of your delivery and we are proud of our customer satisfaction record. Send through a request today for a competitive freight quote!