For our free coronavirus pandemic coverage, learn more here. After two years of unnecessary panic-buying, could West Australians actually run out of toilet paper? Floods have severely damaged the east-west rail link, stopping trains carrying goods and commodities from Adelaide to Perth and Darwin. Credit: ARTC. South Australia copped a drenching in January which meteorologists described as a once-inyear rainfall event.
The flooding, coupled with other pandemic-induced impacts in the eastern states, has created an unprecedented logistical nightmare and left authorities scrambling for creative solutions to bring goods into the state. On Thursday, Woolworths imposed a two-pack purchase limit on items including flour, sugar, rice, paper towels and frozen chips in WA. Limits on toilet paper and painkillers have been in place nationwide since the middle of January Metcash Group chief executive Jeff Adams said the company was working closely with government, suppliers and retailers to keep IGA stores in WA stocked.
Over east, staff shortages due to COVID absenteeism have hit every part of the food supply chain from farmers, food processors and the transport sector to distribution centres and stores, with the end result being fewer products available for customers. Australian Rail Track Corporation corporate affairs manager Anthony Meere said 18 sites stretching over kilometres had been affected by flooding and expected the track would remain closed for at least 12 days.
The severing of the network prompted Transport Minister Rita Saffioti to hold a crisis meeting with the Freight and Logistics Council on Tuesday to develop a three-pronged approach to expediting freight into WA. Other options include allowing double road trains into Perth via Greenmount Hills, and loading goods onto ships at ports in Sydney and Melbourne. But she warned these options would take time to come to fruition and people should only buy what they needed.
In , the only sealed road linking WA and South Australia was closed for 12 days because of bushfires. The closure of the Eyre Highway left hundreds of truck drivers trapped on both sides of the border. Coles and Woolworths used other transport options including rail to bring in products and minimise the impact on supermarket shelves. Main Roads is also working with the Northern Territory and the Shire of Halls Creek to upgrade and seal the kilometre WA section of the Tanami Road, another possible east-west freight link.
