South West supermarkets continue to battle ongoing supply chain issues as WA waits for major freight import

Scarce shelves and unhappy shoppers can be expected for another couple of weeks as the major supermarket chains in the South West continue to battle ongoing stock issues into the State. While we saw empty shelves throughout 2020 and 2021 due to panic buying of long-life consumables as a response to the COVID-19 spread, this time WA faces major supply shortages due to national disruptions within the transport and distribution industry. As Omicron continues to spread across Australia, the mass number of industry workers who have stopped work after becoming unwell or gone into isolation is now crippling the distribution process. To worsen the crisis, big sections of the Trans-Australian Railway, which links the eastern and western seaboards, were inundated by heavy rain in South Australia in January and have only been restored this week. The railway is one of WA’s biggest importers of freight, with no other road or sea freight alone able to satisfy the volume of goods needed in WA. However Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the State could expect to see more goods on Supermarket shelves by the end of March. “We expect another four to six weeks until all the lines are available in the stores as a result of trying to clear the backlog,” she said.