09 December 2021

Australian Freight Volumes and Service Impact

Peak Season Transport Delivery Update

In November we provided customers with an overview of the various challenges (including COVID related issues) that our business and industry has been facing during the lead up and into the peak freight season. To view the November broadcast please click here. 

The impact is still being felt across our branch network, but we are pleased to see that the contingency plans we put in place are starting to produce improvement in some areas.

There are several specific pressure points that we expect will run through to Christmas and are having an impact on our customer deliveries.

• Difficulty securing truck and trailer capacity from the East Coast to Western Australia and South Australia.
• Heavily congested transport depots in Sydney and Melbourne resulting in freight delivery backlogs (including Metro services and NSW regional locations)
• Very high order volumes placing pressure on the timeliness of order picking and despatch from our Sydney and Melbourne warehouse operations.

While these appear to be common challenges for the industry right now, we are working hard to find solutions that assist us to move very large volumes of freight.

We appreciate this will be putting pressure on some customers as demand continues to be at very high levels. Thank you for your patience and the support many customers have provided over recent weeks.
 
We take this opportunity to remind you: 

Book early – When we receive consignment note uploads and freight early in the day, we can plan more effectively and improve segregation, linehaul capacity, etc.

Adjust transit expectations – Where possible, please communicate with your customers / receivers around when they need product. While our aim is to get consignments to receivers in line with expectations, there will be delayed shipments.  To avoid over-promising and under-delivering, it may be important that transit tolerances are extended for the reasons outlined earlier.
 
Urgent shipments – Please advise our customer services team of any urgent shipment details.  They can provide special service request options and tracking.
 
We will continue to keep you advised if we experience any increased impact on our services. As always, if you need assistance or further details please contact your sales executive or local branch team.