Postal, parcel and express operators in Australia are making good progress in clearing thebacklog of Queensland mail after last week’s dramatic heavy floods but the floods have further
spread around the country now reaching southern Australian regions.Australia Post confirmed that the majority of mail is now getting through to Queensland but thesouthern state of Victoria, Australia’s second most populous state, has now also been affected bythe natural disaster.
Australia Post spokesperson, Lanie Harris, commented: “With a number of major arterial roads nowopen, mail is now flowing in and out of Queensland, as well as from point-to-point withinQueensland, and our people are working around the clock to deliver the mail where it is safe to doso.”
Delivery of mail to businesses and households in flood-affected areas is returning to normal inthe north-eastern state. In cases where flood damage to properties prevents mail from beingdelivered, Australia Post is offering free mail redirection.
“We are now able to deliver to the majority of addresses in the Brisbane metropolitan area,and we expect that to improve as people return to their homes and begin to clean up theirproperties,” Harris added.
“Many people in other states have been holding off sending mail into Queensland, so as theystart to lodge mail we do expect mail volumes to increase this week as the crisis eases. Ourposties, mail sorters and staff at our outlets are doing an outstanding job of getting on top ofthe additional load, but with transport and production constraints, it is important that peopleunderstand that mail bound for Queensland may take a few days longer than normal,” sheexplained.
In Victoria, Australia Post has arrangements in place to manage the impact of the floods on maildelivery, Sarah Gordon, Australia Post spokesperson for the region, said. “With access to mainarterial roads cut and further roads set to close today, mail delivery to Horsham and areas northof Bendigo will be affected, but Australia Post has made contingency plans to minimise delays.”
Australia Post is using an alternative route to ensure all mail transported via road fromMelbourne to Adelaide is not affected by the closure of the Western Highway at Horsham. “Ininstances where mail delivery is not possible, we are holding mail at post offices and deliveryfacilities,” she added.
TNT Express in Australia said it has managed to re-establish its networks throughout south-eastQueensland. “However, we are now experiencing service interruptions in Victoria, South Australiaand Western Australia as a result of ongoing floods. Once again we remind customers that use ofTNT’s Sameday and Priority networks is the best way to ensure delays are kept to a minimum,” thecompany stated.
In Queensland, accessibility throughout the south east of the region has further improved withfreight backlogs steadily being cleared and depots returning to full operational capacity. TNT wasalso able to service linehaul movements to all regional Queensland depots with the exception ofRoma and Chinchilla over the weekend. Provided conditions continue to improve, TNT anticipates alloutstanding Queensland freight will be cleared by January 24.
In western Victoria, TNT has implemented contingency plans to avoid flooding on the GreatWestern Highway overnight with the exception of two linehaul units moving between Melbourne andAdelaide. In the southern Victoria region, the company has resumed its services as flooding hassubsided in Terang and the Princes Highway has been re-opened.
TNT’s Marleston depot in Adelaide was closed due to structural damage early yesterday morningimpacting several trailers of TNT’s Day Definite carton freight. Operations were resumed thismorning and TNT expects all outstanding freight to be delivered by Wednesday.
Express company Toll IPEC informed in its latest flood update that the backlog of deliveries inBrisbane, Queensland’s capital and Australia’s third largest city, has now been cleared. “The quickaction of our request to customers to hold back Brisbane freight has given us an opportunity tocatch up very quickly,” the company said.
In Victoria, most deliveries into Horsham, Ararat and Stawell have been completed, butWarracknabeal and Dimboola could not be delivered today. “The flooding has caused a minor backlogin deliveries for some regional areas. We are working to resolve this as soon as possible,” Tolladded.
ParcelDirect Group, the DHL-New Zealand Post venture, has announced the resumption of its normalservice within South East Queensland as well as to Queensland country locations. “We will beaccepting Interstate bookings with delivery into QLD. However, there will be delays into the floodaffected areas in QLD,” the company specified.
Operations into the flood affected areas of New South Wales are back to standard operations.There are restricted deliveries into Victoria with operations in Horsham now being suspended. “Thewestern Highway is cut off by flood waters. This will have some impact on our line haul fromMelbourne to Adelaide and return. Line Haul delays are expected as they travel via Hamilton toavoid the Flood waters. We continue to monitor the situation and provide regular updates,”ParcelDirect concluded.
Australian Air Express said the flood crisis in Central and Southern Queensland is subsiding.However, pickup and delivery services may still be disrupted in some areas while the clean upcontinues this week.
In Victoria, several areas of Western, Central and Northern Victoria have been affected byflooding and normal pickup and delivery services may be disrupted. “AaE will endeavour to provide anormal service where possible. However, we apologise if this is not possible on all occasions,” thecompany added.
