Simon Pepper, Managing Director of ASSDA Member SILA Global, provides an important update on shipping and logistics in the Australian supply chain.

To say the last few years have been unstable, uncertain, difficult, and perturbing would be an understatement. The worldwide impact and far reach of industry issues experienced remind us that we truly are a global economy, and an event on the other side of the world can severely affect the Australian supply chain. We are not out of the woods yet. 

Problems that occurred last year with freight rates, space constraints, rollovers, port closures and other delays are beginning

Brisbane’s Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade saw Australia’s largest use of stainless steel reinforcement bar to date, transforming the structural performance of one of the city’s busiest roads.  

An initiative of Brisbane City Council and designed and constructed by Lendlease, the Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade involved widening the 7km road from four to six lanes between Theodore Street at Eagle Farm and Cooksley Street at Hamilton. This was achieved via a retaining wall built between 10m to 15m out into the Brisbane River. As a major road corridor, Kingsford Smith Drive links the Brisbane CBD to Brisbane Airport, the Port of

New infrastructure in the heart of Sydney is set to transform the busy transport hub and provide a stylish new gateway to the Barangaroo development.

21 June 2017

A growing population in Australia's most populous city calls for innovative design, so when the NSW State Government commissioned construction of the Wynyard Walk, ASSDA Sponsor and Accredited Fabricator Stoddart stepped up to the challenge.

The Wynyard Walk forms one of several solutions to break congestion in the Sydney CBD, allowing pedestrians to move from the Wynyard transport hub to the new development at Barangaroo waterfront in six minutes, avoiding steep hills,

ASSDA member Australian Pickling & Passivation Service (APAPS) and ASSDA sponsor Sandvik Mining & Construction have been central to the expansion of a coal export port in North Queensland.

With Queensland coal exports forecast to increase to 250mtpa by 2015, the strength and durability of the state’s expanding coal transport infrastructure and rail systems is critical to ensuring export capacity.

This recent expansion required the manufacture of 300 three-piece conveyor frames using 40 tonnes of 316 grade stainless steel, specified to foil the port’s exposure to wind, rain, salt spray and abrasive dust.

Sandvik Mining & Construction manufactured the conveyor

Kuala Lumpur's new international airport terminal will open within a month and travellers will be sheltered by a A$17 million stainless steel roof which has largely been developed by Australian expertise and innovation.

The roof profile of the contact piers and air bridges (60,000m² total area) had to satisfy a number of criteria, including rainwater runoff, resistance to wind uplift, and a smooth, painted appearance. The roof area comprises a composite system with an outer metal membrane of fully-welded stainless steel. Further complicating the design, the architect (MJAC) wanted to avoid valley gutters on the roof's curves.

Around 280

Queensland Rail has achieved international recognition for its use of stainless steel in coal wagons by winning the ferritic stainless steel category in the Stainless Steel Awards in South Africa recently.

Entrants were judged on criteria including usage, application, substitution, growth, fitness for purpose, cost saving and effectiveness of solutions.

The award recognised Queensland Rail's use of weldable UNS S41 003 stainless steel as the preferred material for coal wagons. These wagons have performed successfully for 10 years.

According to Queensland Rail, the stainless has proven to be long lasting and low maintenance in comparison to aluminium and carbon steel

Australian-made weighing technology is the first choice for global giant Caterpillar Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment.

Local firm Transcale, designers and manufacturers of electronic weighing equipment specifically for the mining and transport industries, exports its equipment worldwide to over 11 countries in North and South America, Southern Africa and South East Asia.

Transcale's focus on the mining sector means that cutting edge technology needs to be protected from some of the harshest environments in the world. Extremes of heat and clod, record rainfalls, drought, high salt or other corrosive minerals are just a few of

Where flammable or combustible materials are stored or handled, there can be a severe risk of an explosion or fire if handling equipment such as forklift trucks are not flameproofed.

Flameproofing of material handling equipment is the science of reducing the risk of an explosion or fire by means of specialised principles and technologies.

Three components are needed in order to generate an explosion or fire.

1. A flammable or combustible material eg. liquid, gas or dust.
2. Oxygen eg. air.
3. Ignition source eg. electrical sparks,  mechanical sparks, hot surface and static discharges.

Sources of ignition include flames and sparks from exhaust

The Ducati Sydney Racing Team have many reasons to be proud after Twin Cylinder motorcycle rider, Craig McMartin, won the 2004 Australian Pro-Twins Championship.

McMartin, who also won the championship in 2001 and 2002, rode his Ducati Sydney 999S to his third victory at the final round held in September 2004 at Phillip Island, Victoria.

The success of McMartin and fellow Ducati riders in the Championship also contributed to the Ducati team winning the fourth successive Manufacturers Championship.

Every Championship win gives Ducati the edge over other motorcycle manufacturers as they compete for the attention of enthusiasts seeking to purchase

Benefits in the areas of cost, appearance and durability were the key factors in the NSW State Rail Authority's decision to specify stainless steel for the construction of a fleet of new passenger trains to be delivered over the next five years.

United Goninan, a leading designer and manufacturer of railway rolling stock based in Newcastle, has been chosen to design and manufacture 161 double deck electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger cars over three stages.

Stage 1, to be completed in 2006, comprises 41 cars, with 80 to be delivered the following year and a further 40 cars the year

The construction of the Epping to Chatswood rail line in Sydney is the largest publicly funded infrastructure project underway in New South Wales. The project, managed by the Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation, will increase the capacity of the CityRail network and provide direct rail access for the first time to the growing North Ryde/Macquarie Park area. Due to be completed in 2008, the 12.5 kilometre underground passenger line will include four new underground stations at Epping, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park and North Ryde.

Following a tender process, Contractors AW Edwards appointed ASSDA Accredited Fabricator Townsend Group to design, engineer, manufacture

When ASSDA Accredited Fabricator Bridgeman Stainless won a tender to supply stainless steel balustrades for Queensland Rail, supplying quality materials with excellent fabrication techniques was at the forefront of their mind.

The upgrade of Oxford Park and Grovely rail stations in Brisbane’s North West was a 12-month project, headed by Arup and Moggill Constructions, and included significant use of stainless steel for the hand rails and balustrades.

Director Len Webb says the job was an excellent opportunity to showcase stainless steel at its best, rather than reverting to cheaper, less reliable materials and fabrication techniques.

“The project manager, Allan Bolt,

Posted 1 July 2003

A fire at sea is a traveller's worst nightmare. To guard against such a disaster there exist stringent safety standards, maintained through a process of testing and certification. The pre-eminent authority is Lloyd's Register of Shipping, an organization founded in 1760 to inform underwriters and merchants about the condition of the ships they insured and chartered.

Today, certification by Lloyd's Register is a significant commercial achievement. Earlier this year, Lloyd's issued a 'Certificate of Fire Approval' to a new stainless steel fire damper for use on merchant and passenger ships. Grade 316L stainless steel was used

Queensland’s largest ever road and bridge project will rely, in part, on innovation within the stainless steel industry to meet its design life of 300 years.

The Gateway Upgrade Project in Brisbane, which includes construction of a second Gateway Bridge and is being delivered by Queensland Motorways with design, construction and maintenance by the Leighton Abigroup Joint Venture (LAJV), will use reinforcement bar made for the first time from Outokumpu Group’s LDX 2101® duplex stainless steel.

A total of 130 tonnes of duplex stainless steel will be used in the bridge’s most critical structures: the splash zones of the two

McColl's Transport carts a variety of chemicals such as caustic soda and formaldehyde. The tanker barrel has been wrapped and not rolled, with full length stainless steel sheets used to eliminated circumferential welds. There’s a new breed of tanker being put through its paces along Australia’s east coast carrying aggressive chemicals and class three petroleum products for McColl’s Transport.

Dandenong based tanker manufacturer, Marshall Lethlean, has constructed FACT, a Frameless Aggressive Chemical Tanker with some unique operating attributes.

Marshall Lethlean constructed the 25,800 litre, 11.5m long stainless steel tanker with a chassis that’s up to 300 kilos lighter than

Newcastle's public transport stocks are to be boosted by the addition of 30 new stainless steel buses, the first of which was delivered this month.

Their advanced design combines passenger comfort with environmental awareness. The Volvo B12BLE bus chassis meets the latest Euro III exhaust emission standards, making it the cleanest diesel bus on Australian roads.

The buses are being built by Custom Coaches, the largest Australian bus manufacturer with plants in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. Stainless steel supply is by ASSDA member Fagersta Steels.

The buses have features to make travel easier for visually impaired passengers

Significant petrol savings, longer service life, lighter tare weight and reduced maintenance costs are just a few features of Australia's first stainless steel bus.

Two prototype buses with grade 304 stainless steel body shells are being manufactured by Gold Coast-based company, Bus Tech Pty Ltd for Volvo Australia.

Stainless steel buses are used extensively in Europe and the United States of America to guard against corrosion caused by icy, salted roads. Corrosion of buses is also a problem in Australia with vehicles subject to regular frame inspections and refurbishment costs. Corrosion in buses results not only from exposure to marine