IMPACTS OF RECENT FLOODING NATIONALLY

As most of us are aware, there has been heavy rain and flooding in parts of NSW, TAS & VICTORIA in the past week or so, with more rain on the way.

Apart from the obvious actual areas flooded being impacted, there are flow on effects unfortunately which will affect deliveries & services nationally.

Historically when large geographic areas have been flooded or affected by fire, the carriers have:

* pickup services that are strained and delayed as driver’s navigate optimum paths for each day due to flooded areas on their run (or are asked to assist other drivers runs that are severely impacted)

* had to hold goods in transport depots where the goods were sent from, as destination depots are cut off due to floods & unreachable – this causes inefficiencies in the carriers operations having to plan & handle this freight as well as other freight to non-affected areas

* some depots may be flooded and take weeks to be brought back on line before they are able to begin operations again

areas not currently flooded but serviced by a flooded depot will not be serviceable (e.g. parts of Victoria currently)

* rail lines between east cost and west coast have been cut (which is the case this past week) causing a backlog of freight to be sitting in east coast depots

* flow on delays when goods eventually do begin moving as the receiving depots have massive volumes of freight to deliver (with more coming every day)

* all this occurring during our current peak period before Xmas and the online sales during this time of year – these floods could not have come at a worse time for the transport industry

We urge everyone to make statements on your ecommerce stores/eBay listings that there are major delays currently due to the impact of the floods nationally and ask your customers to be patient during this difficult period (even if they are not in a flooded location).

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