Transport & logistics
support
Jobs allocated and confirmed, PODs chased so invoices go out, customers notified before they call, and compliance records current — the office half of a transport business, covered while the trucks are moving.
Cash flow in transport waits on paperwork
A load is delivered on Tuesday and invoiced on the following Friday, because the proof of delivery never came back and nobody chased it. Multiply that across a fleet and the working capital sitting in unchased PODs is substantial.
Meanwhile customers ring to ask where their freight is, drivers ring about tomorrow, and the person who could be chasing paperwork is answering the phone.
A dedicated assistant owns the paperwork and the notifications. The allocation decisions and the driver relationships stay with your operations people.
What comes off the operations desk
- Job entry and allocation admin — Jobs entered accurately, allocated per your rules, and confirmed with drivers and subcontractors before the day starts.
- POD chasing — Proofs of delivery chased daily until they arrive, matched to the job, and attached so invoicing is never held up.
- Customer notifications — Proactive updates on delayed or exception freight, so customers are told rather than left to ring.
- Invoicing — Jobs invoiced promptly against rates, accessorials captured, and discrepancies queried before the customer disputes them.
- Subcontractor admin — Rates confirmed, insurances and accreditations tracked, and subbie invoices reconciled against jobs.
- Compliance records — Driver licences, medicals, fatigue records, maintenance schedules and accreditation documents tracked with rolling expiry lists.
- Claims and exceptions — Damage and shortage claims documented, lodged and chased with the trail intact.
- Reporting — On-time performance, exception rates, unbilled jobs and unchased PODs — weekly.
The work that comes off your desk
In transport the paperwork is the product. Freight can arrive on time and still go unbilled because the POD never came back off the truck. The admin load sits in three places: the run from booking through POD to invoice, the compliance file that has to survive an audit, and the subcontractor reconciliation nobody volunteers for.
Works the outstanding POD list each morning in TransVirtual, CartonCloud, MachShip or the customer's own portal, matches scanned and photographed PODs to consignment numbers, follows up drivers and subcontractors for missing signatures, and releases the job for invoicing once the POD is attached.
Converts completed jobs into invoices: checks the applied rate against the customer's rate card, confirms zone and postcode banding and whether the job charges on weight or cubic, adds pallet, tail-lift, futile delivery and waiting-time charges, then pushes the batch through to Xero or MYOB.
Recalculates the monthly levy against the diesel index or terminal gate price the contract nominates, updates the percentage in the TMS so it applies to new consignments, reissues rate notices to customers, and checks that contracts with a fixed or capped levy were not swept up in the change.
Keeps customer rate cards current in the TMS as lanes, annual increases, surcharges and minimum charges change. Builds ad hoc quotes for oversize, express and after-hours work off the standing schedule and records what was quoted against the job so the invoice matches the promise.
Takes bookings by phone, email and EDI, keys or imports them into the TMS, allocates to a run or subcontractor, generates consignment notes and labels, and confirms pickup windows and site access requirements with the customer's despatch contact.
Works the exception list: missed pickups, damaged or short freight, refused deliveries and bad addresses. Contacts the receiver to rebook, logs the reason code against the consignment, and gives the account manager a version of events that matches the scan history.
Collects and files what comes back off the truck: signed run sheets, daily and pre-start check sheets, fuel dockets, weighbridge tickets, and the duplicate pages of the National Driver Work Diary handed over to the record keeper. Gaps get flagged to the compliance manager, never filled in.
Keys work and rest hours from returned diary duplicates or the electronic work diary export into the operator's own record-keeping system, so the records stay held by the nominated record keeper at its Australian business base where an authorised officer can require them to be produced. Files by driver for the statutory retention period and produces the exception list for the compliance manager to review and act on.
Keeps the maintenance records straight under whichever accreditation the operator holds — an existing NHVAS maintenance module accreditation running to its expiry, or the Heavy Vehicle Accreditation scheme that replaced NHVAS from 1 August 2026, whether General Safety Accreditation or Alternative Compliance Accreditation. Covers service schedules by prime mover and trailer, daily check sheets, defect reports raised and the date each was signed off as rectified, plus registration renewals and roadworthy dates.
Reconciles subcontractor and owner-driver jobs against PODs and agreed pay rates, prepares recipient created tax invoices, verifies each subbie's ABN and GST registration, checks certificates of currency for insurance are current, and queues the pay run for approval.
Maintains the register of expiring documents across drivers and subcontractors: licence classes and endorsements, medicals, inductions, insurance policies, accreditation dates and customer site inductions. Issues reminders well ahead of expiry so the file is not assembled the week of an audit.
Reconciles what the customer's portal shows against the TMS: unbilled jobs, disputed charges, credits raised and POD queries. Uploads PODs where the customer requires them attached to the invoice, and works the aged debt list where the hold-up is paperwork rather than money.
Assembles the file for the licensed customs broker: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill, certificate of origin and packing declaration. Books container transport, tracks vessel ETAs and free-time expiry, and flags demurrage and detention risk before it lands.
What stays with you
We are a staffing company, so this list argues against our own interest. It is also the part that matters: the work below is reserved, and no amount of supervision moves it. Get the line written down before anyone starts in a transport business.
- Scheduling within legal driving hoursA scheduler is a named Chain of Responsibility party with a primary duty under the HVNL. Deciding whether a driver has hours available and setting a delivery window creates direct liability, so that decision stays with a person onshore. The HVNL applies in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT; Western Australia and the Northern Territory run their own heavy vehicle regimes, where the equivalent duty sits under that state or territory's law.NHVR, Chain of Responsibility under the HVNL (NSW, Qld, Vic, SA, Tas, ACT; WA and NT have separate regimes)
- Executive due diligence dutyDirectors, partners and senior managers of a CoR party owe a personal due diligence duty to ensure the business meets its primary duty. It cannot be contracted out, delegated to a consultant or pushed down to an administrator. In Western Australia and the Northern Territory the equivalent officer duty arises under that jurisdiction's own heavy vehicle and work health and safety law rather than the HVNL.NHVR, executive due diligence duty under the HVNL (NSW, Qld, Vic, SA, Tas, ACT; WA and NT have separate regimes)
- The work diary entry itselfOnly the driver may record work and rest entries in the National Driver Work Diary. Administrators receive, file and transcribe the duplicate. Anyone else writing in the diary is making a false or misleading entry, which is an offence. Western Australian and Northern Territory operators work to their own fatigue and record-keeping instruments, but the rule that only the driver writes the entry holds there too.NHVR, HVNL fatigue management rules (NSW, Qld, Vic, SA, Tas, ACT; WA and NT have separate regimes)
- Load, mass and restraint sign-offWhether a load sits within mass and dimension limits and is properly restrained is decided at the dock by the loader, loading manager and driver. The binding requirement is the loading performance standards in Schedule 7 of the Heavy Vehicle (Mass, Dimension and Loading) National Regulation; the NHVR's Load Restraint Guide shows how to meet them but is guidance, not law, and now exists in both a 2018 and a 2025 edition. Documentation can be prepared remotely; the physical check and the sign-off cannot.NHVR, HVNL and Sch 7 Heavy Vehicle (Mass, Dimension and Loading) National Regulation (see Load Restraint Guide) — HVNL states and territories only; WA and NT have separate regimes
- Customs entries and clearanceOnly the owner of the goods or a licensed customs broker may lodge an import declaration. Tariff classification, valuation and concession decisions belong to the nominee broker whose licence is on the entry.Australian Border Force, Customs Act 1901
Roles for transport operators
Administration assistant
Job entry, POD chasing and general operations admin.
Explore →Customer service representative
Freight enquiries and proactive notifications.
Explore →Accounts receivable specialist
Invoicing and debtor follow-up on a cadence.
Explore →Procurement officer
Supplier and subcontractor administration.
Explore →What stays in the yard
Administration and notification travel. Anything requiring presence, a licence or an operational judgement does not.
- Chain of responsibility decisionsFatigue, load restraint and mass compliance decisions are made by people with the authority and the presence to make them.
- Dispatch judgementThey administer the allocation to your rules; deciding to reroute or re-crew is operational.
- Driver managementPerformance and conduct decisions belong with your operations manager.
- Safety and incident decisionsOn-road incidents and safety determinations are never a remote role.
Specialist roles for transport operators
Three dedicated roles covering the office work that decides cash flow and compliance.