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Alex

AM Strategist · AI Chief of Staff

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Australian Freight Cost Advisory

Your freight costs just went up 40%.
Your carriers aren't waiting for you to catch up.

Thirty years inside major Australian freight carriers. Now working for shippers. We tell you exactly how much your carriers are overcharging you — and recover it before June 30.

30 years inside:

Major National Carriers International Express Bulk Freight Parcel & Last Mile Contract Logistics
Or see how we work →
$3.10

Diesel per litre. Up 40% since March.

22.7%

Current carrier fuel surcharges. Most shippers cannot validate them.

1 in 12

Australian trucking businesses closed. 12 months to November 2025.

Every CFO in Australia is watching their freight line blow out. Most don't know what's recoverable and what isn't. We do.

We work for shippers.

Companies spending between $500,000 and $15 million a year on freight. Wholesalers. Distributors. Manufacturers. FMCG. Building products. E-commerce.

We don't work for carriers.

We spent 30 years on their side of the table. We know exactly how they construct rate cards, where they build margin, and where they overcharge when nobody is watching. Now we work for the people writing the cheques.

Four services. All priced.

Five business days

Express Freight Audit

$4,950 + GST

Desktop analysis of your freight invoices, carrier contracts, and surcharge structures. Using our benchmarking data and 30 years of carrier expertise, we give you one clear answer: are you overpaying, by how much, and where.

Delivered as a written report in five business days.

If you're overpaying — and most are — we tell you whether the opportunity is best captured through a Diagnostic or straight to tender. We make that recommendation in the report.

Includes Express Audit · Ten business days

Freight Optimisation Diagnostic

$14,950 + GST

One day on-site with your logistics and finance teams. One follow-up video session. Full lane-by-lane analysis across every carrier, route, weight break, and surcharge in your network.

Written blueprint ranking every savings opportunity by dollar value and effort to capture. Delivered in 10 business days.

Express Audit already completed? $4,950 credited against this fee.

You act on the blueprint internally, or we run the tender for you.

Includes Diagnostic · Full service

Freight Re-tender & Implementation

From $24,950 + GST

We write the RFQ. We manage carrier responses. We benchmark every submission against market. We negotiate the contracts. We validate the savings figure.

You get signed agreements and a number you can take to the board. Base fee determined by freight spend and carrier complexity.

Diagnostic already completed? $14,950 credited against this fee.

Contracts signed. Savings locked in. Now you need someone making sure carriers honour them.

Minimum 6 months · Monthly deliverable

Freight Intelligence Retainer

$3,450/month + GST

Monthly monitoring of your carrier invoices against contracted rates and market benchmarks. Quarterly surcharge validation report. Annual contract renewal advisory. Written findings delivered to your CFO or finance team each month.

Cancel with 30 days notice after the minimum term.

What this replaces: a freight analyst or procurement manager at $80,000–$120,000 per year — without the overheads or the knowledge gap.

Findings are delivered in writing. Carrier disputes and negotiations are not included in this retainer.

Most retainer clients start here after completing a Diagnostic or Tender. Intelligence without action is just information — but information delivered monthly keeps your carriers honest.

All engagements fully tax deductible before 30 June.

What we find in freight audits.

~8%

Average rate of carrier invoice errors — consistent across large-scale freight audit studies.

AFS Logistics, 250,000-invoice study, 2024

3–5%

Added to shipment costs by fuel surcharge misapplication — one of the most common and least challenged billing errors.

Zero Down Supply Chain Solutions; AFS Logistics, 2024

14%

Of all freight billing errors relate specifically to fuel surcharge misapplication.

AFS Logistics LTL study, March 2024

56%

Peak fuel surcharge applied by a major Australian carrier in April 2026. Six weeks earlier it was 13%. Most shippers cannot validate whether this is legitimate.

Carrier weekly fuel surcharge table, April 2026

150%

Increase in Australia Post's contract fuel surcharge in a single announcement, March 2026. From 4.8% to 12% overnight. Affecting 30,000 contract customers.

Australia Post, March 2026

The ACCC issued legal substantiation notices to carriers in March 2026 requiring justification of fuel surcharges, citing 'surcharges of more than 70% imposed on small businesses.' Most shippers never challenged a surcharge in their lives.

ACCC, March 2026

Every dollar invested before 30 June is a deduction.

Express Freight Audit

$4,950

→ $3,465 after tax

at 30% company tax rate

Optimisation Diagnostic

$14,950

→ $10,465 after tax

at 30% company tax rate

Re-tender & Implementation

$24,950

→ $17,465 after tax

at 30% company tax rate

If we find even half the typical 12% variance in your freight spend, the audit pays for itself ten times over. In this financial year. After 1 July, it's next year's number.