Qantas Freight back in business in Brisbane but other backlogs remain

Qantas Freight has cleared a backlog of cargo at its Brisbane facility but said snarl-ups in Sydney and Melbourne remain.

The company said that operations at its Brisbane facility were “back to business as usual” after an IT blackout on September 24 caused backlogs at its Australian facilities.

While the logjam at Brisbane has been cleared, the company said it would be later this week that the Melbourne and Sydney stations were cleared.

“Our target remains to have all import backlogs cleared in Sydney by October 19 and Melbourne by October 21 and we’re on track to meet both dates,” the carrier said in its latest update.

“Over the weekend of Oct 14-15, the extra resources on hand in our Melbourne and Sydney terminals, together with offshore support to assist with data matching, has resulted in further backlog clearance which has led to more import freight being collected.

“We appreciate the patience and support from our customers and the flexibility being shown to arrange collection over the weekend which may be outside their usual collection periods.”

The airline said that it was focused on tracking and processing freight that arrived in late September.

“A reminder that tracking information available online may be inaccurate and we will be contacting customers as soon as this older freight has been located, processed and reconciled.”

“The vast majority of exports and tranships have also been uplifted with a small number of freight items still experiencing minor delays with rebooking.”

It’s not just Qantas shipments that are being delayed by the backlog, the carrier said that its stations also handle cargo for other airlines, and these shipments were also subject to delays.

The carrier said that any claims for delayed or damaged freight must be requested online and time limits apply.

Any storage fees which may apply due to delayed processing will be waived.

Qantas Freight makes progress but backlog unlikely to be cleared this week