This is a recent Brisbane-Melbourne intermodal train that has...

This is a recent Brisbane-Melbourne intermodal train that has quite a few empty container flat wagons, but even so, LAU railable containers are present a pleasing 13 times.

It wasn't so long ago that the LAU CEO said the company was railing '100 containers a month' on this route, so if this train is any indication, numbers have markedly risen as there's at least one departure a day from Brisbane bound for the southern capital, and occasionally two:


LAU's SP has retreated to A$0.70 that for my two pennyworth may be due to a combination of profit taking and 'Mr Market's' concern that consumer demand will drop for many goods given the RBA's interest rate rises, another one of which will be known by 1430 hours AEDT today.

If LAU is stealing a little more market share in this highly fragmented freight market, that's a positive 'Mr Market' takes longer to observe because we lack day-to-day information on such metrics.

We lack visibility on domestic freight rate movements but from observations like the above, my hypothesis is that LAU as a transport provider is doing quite well. It hasn't issued any 'material' announcements to the ASX suggesting any significant deterioration in trading conditions.