Mail, parcel and express deliveries in Australia are getting back to normal in Queensland whilethe situation in the flood-affected state of Victoria still remains unstable with some disruptions
going on despite a general improvement.Australia Post said it is back up and running in Queensland, with the mail now getting throughvia road, air and sea to almost the entire state. With a number of major arterial roads now open,mail is now flowing in and out of the state as well as from point-to-point within it.
Managing Director and CEO Ahmed Fahour said: “We are back to almost 100% in Queensland thanks tothe hard work of all the posties, truck drivers and retail staff in Queensland.”
“Since the floods began, we have delivered 32 million items into Queensland and we are nowdelivering 2.6 million items every day across the state. During the worst of the floods, we werestill delivering 1.6 million items each day which is testament to the commitment of our people,” heexplained.
Fahour stressed that the Australian postal operator did a good job in finding alternate ways toget the mail through including chartering a ship to get parcels through to Townsville to get aroundroad closures and a shortage of aircraft.
Australia Post said it is now focusing on North West Victoria and the floods there with manyrivers yet to peak. “Just as in Queensland, we are putting enormous effort into maintainingservices in Victoria. In cases where we can’t get mail through we are holding that mail to keep itsafe,” Fahour added. In cases where flood damage to properties prevents mail from being delivered,Australia Post is offering free mail redirection.
TNT Express Australia also confirmed that road conditions in Queensland are further improvingwith many diversions being lifted in regions of north east New South Wales and south eastQueensland. “TNT’s Queensland operations have returned to normal and we expect all outstandingfreight to be cleared by Monday, 24th January 2011,” the company stated.
In Western Victoria, there are still areas where flooding continues to hamper accessibility inincluding Charlton, Sea Lake and Kerang. TNT expects the backlog of freight which was being held atHorsham to be cleared by early next week.
Express company Toll IPEC informed in its latest flood update that some road closures anddiversions are still in place but in general most Brisbane deliveries are back normal. However,there remains a large amount of homes and businesses without power in the local Brisbane area, asthe clean up continues. “In Victoria, the only areas that we will have no access to are Kerangwhich is totally closed off and Dimboola,” the company stressed.
Star Track Express reported that parts of Brisbane were affected by heavy rain overnight andconsequently some roads remain inaccessible. “It is expected that the recovery process at the StarTrack Express Brisbane depot will not be complete until early next week due to significantly largerthan normal volumes, difficult traffic conditions and the high number of futile deliveries causedby business closures,” the company said.
In Victoria, however, the conditions in many of the flood affected areas have improved thoughsome locations remain inaccessible. Consequently, there will be unavoidable delivery delays inKerang, Dimboola and the surrounding areas.
Australian Air Express also announced services disruptions in Victoria. “Areas of North Western,Mid Western and North Eastern Victoria have been affected by flooding and with access cut toseveral areas 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 said in a statement.
AaE added that the flood crisis in Central and Southern Queensland is subsiding. However, pickupand delivery services may still be disrupted in some areas while the clean-up continues thisweek.
