The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have caused chaos for many industries. One of the more felt, but perhaps less noticed, is the freight and mail industry. Especially in Australia – where much of our freight is flown in from overseas – airline restrictions had an outsized effect on both the amount of cargo coming into Australia, and where it’s coming into.
Australia Post has seen large delays across the country ranging from a few days to possibly weeks, depending on where your mail is coming from. But why is this the case?
As this graph shows, at the beginning of the pandemic, most noticeably after flight restrictions were announced in late March, freight moving into and out of Australia dropped in almost all areas, bar freight into Sydney. The other main international airports all saw large drops in the amount of freight they received and sent out internationally.
This highlights two key things. One is that less freight overall is moving to and from Australia. This matches with data surrounding large drops in demand across the economy. But importantly, it highlights that freight is being diverted from demand cities to a central hub in Sydney and being distributed across the nation from there.
This is even more pronounced in the following graph, showing what percentage of freight of all sent into Australia a city receives. After flight restrictions begin in late March, Sydney surges ahead of the rest of the other locations, taking in more than two thirds of the total amount of freight Australia receives.
Finally, while it may seem as though Australia Post has to handle less freight during the pandemic, in fact it may have to handle more. In the following graph, we see that, month on month, online retail, which needs to be mailed, has increased dramatically. Even after flight numbers fell, online retail jumped by 26 per cent. In the past six months, it has increased by a total of 62 per cent.
Australia Post, facing restricted workplace numbers due to COVID, now also faces increased demand for shipping from online shopping. Combined with the need to distribute from Sydney to other cities, and the system just can’t keep up.
As Australia Post hires more workers – and reallocates current workers to needed areas – and freight begins to slow down again, delays will decrease. And you can get back to sitting by the window, waiting for the postie.
(Image: Cathay Pacific Cargo 747-8F aircraft flying out of Melbourne Airport, June 10, 2019. Cargo movements into and out of Melbourne have fallen dramatically after flight restrictions introduced in late March of this year. (CALLUM ALLDAY))
