If Christmas demand is starting earlier, is your freight strategy moving early enough?
Black Friday, Cyber Monday and earlier promotional periods are bringing peak volumes forward. During the 2024 peak, Australia Post delivered almost 103 million parcels across November and December, while parcel volumes began surging two weeks before Black Friday as retailers launched sales earlier.
For businesses moving goods interstate, that concentration of demand has a wider operational impact. Capacity becomes tighter, delivery windows matter more and disruptions leave less room to recover.
By preparing earlier, businesses have more time to identify where the network could come under pressure and put practical alternatives in place before they’re needed.
At BRi, that starts with looking past the individual shipment. We assess how the wider domestic freight network is performing, where cost and capacity exposure sits, and whether changes to routes, modes or carriers could create a stronger commercial outcome.
How can hybrid freight help during the Christmas peak?
Australia’s size means there is rarely one transport mode that is right for every domestic freight movement. This is becoming increasingly relevant as Australia’s freight task grows. Infrastructure Australia’s 2026 Infrastructure Priority List projects domestic freight could increase by up to 26% between 2020 and 2050, reaching around 964 billion tonne-kilometres. Road and rail already account for nearly 90% of Australia’s domestic freight task.
The opportunity is to understand where each mode creates the most commercial value within the wider freight network.
Road provides the flexibility and reach needed across the network. Rail can provide an efficient option for suitable long-distance and higher-volume freight. Infrastructure Australia reports that road currently carries almost 80% of Australia’s non-bulk freight, while rail carries around 16%.
Our approach at BRi starts with the freight itself: where it is moving, the volumes involved, when it needs to arrive and what the commercial consequence would be if it arrived late. From there, we look at the network as a whole. That means we can determine where the road makes sense, where rail freight can add value and where a combination of the two can improve the wider network without compromising the delivery outcome.
As our co-founder, Michael Bourne, explains:
‘Our aim is not only to lower costs, but to create a transport plan that can withstand the unexpected.’
That strategy is most relevant on longer domestic journeys. Road freight may provide the responsiveness and reach needed across certain stages, while rail freight can provide an efficient option for suitable long-distance and higher-volume freight.
The value comes from knowing where each option makes sense, rather than applying the same freight model to every movement.
Watch Michael Bourne (Co-founder BRi) explain how BRi approaches hybrid freight and domestic network design
Heading into Christmas, this becomes particularly important. A freight option that performs well under normal conditions can become more exposed when capacity tightens and delivery windows become less forgiving.
For some businesses, building rail into the long-distance component of the journey while retaining road for more targeted distribution can provide another way to balance cost, capacity and reliability.
What does hybrid freight look like in practice?
One of BRi’s manufacturing clients was moving goods from Sydney to Perth entirely by road.
Costs were climbing and delivery times were being blown out. With stock availability becoming even more important during peak season, continuing with the same model meant continuing to carry the same exposure.
Instead of just looking for another road carrier, BRi reviewed the Sydney-to-Perth lane as a whole. We considered the freight profile, service requirements, cost exposure and where a change in transport mode could improve the commercial outcome.
Accordingly, we introduced a hybrid freight model and re-engineered the lane, using rail freight as the primary transport mode into Western Australia, followed by targeted road distribution for final-mile delivery.
The result was an 18% reduction in freight costs, reduced exposure to shortages and improved delivery reliability during peak season. The value came from understanding limitations first, then looking at where each mode performed best and redesigning the network around the client’s requirements.
For a business heading into Christmas, that can mean lower freight costs without losing sight of the outcome that matters commercially: having stock where it needs to be while the sales opportunity is still there.
What happens when your usual freight option comes under pressure?
Peak season increases volume, but volume is not the only variable a domestic freight plan needs to absorb.
Weather, congestion, maintenance and capacity constraints can all affect how freight moves. As Christmas approaches, the impact can become greater because there is less time available to recover before a customer commitment or sales window is missed
This year has provided a practical reminder of that risk. Severe flooding disrupted the East–West rail network in March 2026. More recently, ARTC completed major works across parts of the East–West corridor to improve freight reliability and prepare the network for summer conditions, including extreme heat, flooding and other severe weather. Some of those upgrades are expected to reduce freight journey times by up to 40 minutes on the upgraded sections.
For BRi, the lesson is straightforward: a resilient freight plan needs workable alternatives.
Understanding the options before they’re needed, and having enough visibility to make an informed decision when the network comes under pressure, is more important than moving every shipment between road and rail as conditions change.
That visibility becomes increasingly important in a hybrid model as freight may be moving through different modes, carriers and stages of the journey.
BRi’s PATHWAY technology brings freight milestones and exception reporting into one environment, helping our team and clients identify when a movement is beginning to move outside the plan.
If an issue develops during the Christmas period, that clearer view gives the team more time to assess the operational and commercial options available, whether that means changing the route, adjusting the mode or prioritising the freight that carries the greatest commercial consequence.
While having more freight options is valuable, the greater value comes from knowing which options make the most sense commercially, how to use them and how flexible the network is when conditions change.
What should businesses review before Christmas?
By October, businesses should have a clear picture of where their domestic freight network may come under pressure. Three questions can help identify where more flexibility may be needed:
- Where are we dependent on one transport mode?
Look at the lanes carrying the greatest volumes and the inventory most important to Black Friday and Christmas. If the usual mode becomes constrained, what alternatives are realistically available? - Does every shipment need the same service level?
Some stock may be tied to a fixed promotional or customer deadline, while other freight has more room to move. Understanding that difference can create opportunities to use road and rail more effectively without compromising the commercial outcome. - Can we see problems early enough to respond?
Having an alternative is only useful if there is enough time to use it. Visibility across milestones and exceptions helps identify where intervention may be required before a delay becomes a stock-availability or customer-service problem.
Answering these questions is what make network design important, especially when Infrastructure Australia identifies improving intermodal capacity and connectivity as a national infrastructure priority. BRi can assess the lanes, service requirements, cost exposure and operational constraints across the network to identify where additional flexibility can genuinely improve the commercial outcome, rather than introducing complexity for its own sake.
Build flexibility before Christmas pressure peaks
Christmas pressure tends to expose weaknesses that already exist within a freight network. As volumes increase, the businesses with more options have greater room to respond.
For BRi, that is the value of hybrid freight: understanding the commercial requirements first, designing the right combination of transport around them, and supporting that network with the visibility to make better decisions when conditions change, and without compromising service or cost.
That can mean identifying where rail freight can take pressure off long-distance road freight, where road provides the flexibility needed for final distribution, and where PATHWAY visibility can help the team respond earlier when a movement begins to fall outside the plan.
The aim is to give the business better options when conditions change, and the information needed to choose between them.
By the time Christmas freight pressure is at its highest, the number of practical options available can narrow quickly. October is the opportunity to look at the network while there is still time to act to achieve the goal of building enough flexibility into the network before Christmas pressure leaves fewer options to work with.
At BRi, our approach begins with understanding how the wider domestic freight network is performing. By identifying where cost, capacity and reliability risks sit, we can redesign parts of the network to create greater flexibility – whether that means introducing rail into long-distance movements, retaining road where responsiveness matters most, or using PATHWAY visibility to act earlier when freight moves outside plan.
If you’re reviewing your domestic freight network ahead of Christmas, speak with BRi about where changes to your freight model could reduce exposure, improve reliability and ultimately, create more commercial flexibility.
