Qantas has had a major logistics breakdown with freight, leaving dead bodies, live animals, and fresh food stranded at airports across Australia.
The crisis unfolded after Qantas attempted to implement a “new, fully integrated double-based” management system on September 24.
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According to a letter sent to freight customers, the system upgrade did not proceed as planned, triggering a cascade of problems that have persisted for over ten days.
The airline’s freight customer said they have had to wait up to a week to collect goods needed by their clients the day after landing in Australia, damaging all the unrefrigerated fresh produce and pharmaceuticals.
On Tuesday, a Qantas spokesperson said the IT issues had been resolved, and the domestic backlog had been cleared. However, the impact on international deliveries remains.
“We are working around the clock to make sure all outstanding items get where they need to go as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said.
They had prioritised deliveries of urgent medical supplies and human remains.
The most impacted place is Melbourne Airport, with one freight forwarder, who was not authorised to speak publicly, telling The Age that more than 300 units of cargo have piled high at Terminal 1 for the past ten days.
“We’ve had staff there for days on end without any answer from the airline. A lot of people in our industry do not speak very good English, and we received no heads-up from the company about the update despite having tens of thousands of dollars worth in orders ahead of Christmas,” the source said.
“They managed to find KISS’ band gear, so they could play at the AFL grand final. Meanwhile, there are coffins on the tarmac.”
Qantas, as one of Australia’s three major container terminal operators responsible for handling inbound airfreight, has caused disruptions affecting around 25 per cent of the nation’s in lund airfreight.
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