Australia’s already-strained parcel supply chains will be under more pressure due to predicted flooding this spring and summer.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) announced on Tuesday another La Niña event is underway in the Pacific Ocean, and communities in eastern Australia should be prepared for above-average rainfall and flood risks over spring and early summer.
Shippit, a logistics platform that works with Target, Myer, Big W and other retailers, released data that showed the average delivery took up to 9 per cent longer due to heavy rain in 2020 and 2021.
So, although there are about 80,000 courier drivers on Australian roads, an additional 7200 drivers’ worth of work is created when there is adverse weather, Shippit stated.
The forecast wet weather will further strain a logistics network still “creaking under pressures” from labour shortages, Shippit co-founder and co-CEO Rob Hango-Zada told The New Daily.
“When purchasing products online, consumers should factor more time into their purchases to offset the impact of adverse weather,” he said.
“With Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the festive shopping rush all approaching in the coming months, networks are going to be at peak activity.
“If forecasts from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology are correct, we expect delays similar to those our data reveals over the last two years.”
Wet conditions have already set in, with the BOM releasing flash flooding, damaging winds and hail warnings on Thursday as thunderstorms hit parts of Queensland, New South Wales, and northern Victoria.
Postal services face more strain
Curtin University adjunct professor Paul Alexander said postal delivery services such as Australia Post are still recovering from reconfiguring the entire national network to gear more towards parcel deliveries than letters after online orders hit record rates during the pandemic.
He said postal services might also still be dealing with ramifications from a backlog of parcel deliveries after supply routes were disrupted by floods earlier this year.
While letters can easily be transported around the country on domestic flights, parcel deliveries rely on trains and trucks; so when large swathes of Queensland were flooded and South Australian floods damaged interstate rail lines earlier this year, postal services were severely disrupted.
“If you limit the options in the routes … everything starts to fight for a very limited amount of space,” Dr Alexander said.
“Groceries are fighting with parcels you’ve ordered, and there are a limited number of things that could get through.
“It’s like if you’re on the freeway, and you went from four lanes to one, it just causes great backlogs.”
However, Dr Alexander said this year postal services are in a better place to deal with peak demand around Christmas than previously.
Post service efficiency took a hit from COVID-safe rules, quarantine periods, and global supply chain issues over recent holiday periods, but he said many of these issues have eased.
Services such as Australia Post are not facing the same “crisis” they were last year, Dr Alexander said.
An Australia Post spokesperson told The New Daily the organisation has processes in place to manage the impact of weather on its networks.
“When an extreme weather event occurs, our teams make every effort to safely deliver and collect for our customers.”
