The beleaguered freight division of Qantas Airways said late last week that it could take another two weeks for some key cargo terminals in Australia to dig out from the logjam of shipments caused by a troublesome switchover to a new cargo management system. Data from the legacy system was supposed to be integrated into the new system but glitches in digital communications and cargo processing immediately cropped up on September 24th.
Nearly two weeks into the crisis, Qantas Freight is struggling to keep shipments flowing and says it will be up to two weeks before warehouse operations at the Sydney and Melbourne airports return to normal, according to a notice posted on their website.
Paul Zalai, director of the Freight & Trade Alliance, on Thursday criticized Qantas’ slow response and suggested angry freight forwarders would demand compensation for financial burdens resulting from multiday delays retrieving shipments.
Logistics providers say manual procedures have not successfully substituted for automated ones. Continuing challenges include the inability of the new system to communicate with X-ray scanning machines, breakdowns in messaging with Australian Customs for clearing imports to enter the country and difficulties tracking the location of shipments.
Qantas management on Friday urged freight forwarders to stop contacting employees they have relationships with seeking favours to expedite their cargo, saying “this in fact is creating duplication of effort across multiple channels and in fact counterproductive to assisting us clear cargo,” according to correspondence shared with members by the Freight & Trade Alliance.
GPSM will keep clients updated as further news comes to hand.