Heavy vehicles

The Victorian freight task is predicted to increase from around 360 million tonnes in 2014 to nearly 900 million tonnes in 2051. The Victorian Freight Plan: Delivering the Goods and Moving More with Less, Victoria’s high-productivity freight vehicle (HPFV) plan, outlines our commitment to HPFVs and expanding access to the road network. While our freight plan Delivering the Goods contains a number of initiatives to encourage growth in rail freight, the road network will continue to play a dominant role in the freight task.

Victoria relies more heavily on road transport because the Victorian freight landscape is so complex. The state’s exports are broadly scattered, resulting in a freight task comprising countless pick-up points and a variety of freight types.

To meet this challenge, Victoria maintains an intricate supply chain that connects with every farm gate and primary producer throughout the state.

The growth of larger vehicles that can carry more freight is essential in ensuring that the capacity of Victoria’s road network expands without exponentially increasing the number of heavy vehicles on our roads.

Delivering the Goods emphasises the importance of ongoing productivity improvements in the movement of freight.

The implementation of those improvements is contained in Moving More with Less 2021, Victoria’s HPFV plan, detailing how Victoria will get the next generation of newer, cleaner, safer, and more productive vehicles onto key freight corridors.

Victoria promotes broader access to the freight network by encouraging the industry to adopt a suite of reference vehicle designs. Each design has access to a pre-approved network of HPFV routes. More reference vehicle designs and expanded networks are continually developed.

A reference design on a pre-approved network accelerates the permit process by providing automatic road manager consent.

Downloads

The Victorian Freight Plan 2025-30: Victoria Delivers PDF 2.48 MB (opens in a new window)

Moving More with Less: High Productivity Freight Vehicle Plan PDF 6.92 MB (opens in a new window)

Moving More with Less - accessible version Word 8.64 MB (opens in a new window)

Operating a mobile crane in Victoria Industry Guide PDF 952.54 KB (opens in a new window)

Operating a Performance-Based Standards vehicle in Victoria - PBS Industry Guide PDF 1.24 MB (opens in a new window)

Class 1 and 3 Structural Assessment Cost-Recovery - Information Sheet June 2024 PDF 149.03 KB (opens in a new window)

Other useful links

Network and maps(opens in a new window)

Superloads(opens in a new window)

Farmer and agricultural information (opens in a new window)