Australia closed its borders to non-citizens and non-residents on 20 March 2020, and a range of internal border restrictions have been implemented by the states and territories that have been varied at short notice to accommodate rapid changes in jurisdictional circumstances. Some Transport Industry sectors or sub-sectors have received essential service status, allowing their operations to continue, but all have been challenged by changes in government policy, consumer demand and supply issues.
Aviation
The aviation sector has been disproportionally affected by COVID-19. The Aviation IRC’s 2021 Industry Outlook (abridged annual update) reports a 63% decline in international aircraft movements and 49.1% decline in domestic aircraft trips in 2019-20. The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (Department of Infrastructure) submitted to the Future of Australia’s aviation sector, in the context of COVID-19 and conditions post pandemic inquiry that at the peak of the crisis, passengers carried in Australia fell by around 97 per cent and over 30,000 aviation workers were stood down or laid off. An estimated $61 billion of economic benefit was lost between March and October 2020. The Australian Airports Association (AAA) estimated that more than 70 per cent of staff at regional airports have been placed on reduced hours, been re-deployed or made redundant. The AAGHIA submitted that, in addition to pilots, personnel requiring recertification include aircraft tow drivers, aircraft load controllers, aircraft movement coordinators, trainers, systems experts, aviation safety and compliance personnel and leaders across the sector. Due to the long period of negligible flight activity, almost the entire ground handling workforce has needed, or will need, to be retrained and accredited.
Since March 2020, the Australian Government has implemented a range of measures to support the industry and maintain air connectivity for Australians, including accreditation programs for ground handlers, and payments to the two international passenger airlines to cover employee expenses including training to maintain workforce flight skills and currency. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has continued providing exemptions and relief measures, including a number of CASA authorisations for pilots and aircraft operators, measures for aircraft maintenance engineer candidates who a part-way through a training and examination program, flight examiner proficiency checks, and remote pilot licence (RePL) training instructors. With the removal of quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers in New South Wales and Victoria and partial reopening of the international border (international flights remain subject to government and regulatory approval), Qantas and Virgin Australia have been able to begin their recovery processes.
The Aviation: Flight Operations Industry Snapshot by the Western Australian Logistics and Defence Industry Skill Council states COVID-19 has radically altered the way the aviation industry operates globally, with approximately two-thirds of the world’s passenger planes grounded. Pilots are required to fly once every 45 days to maintain Civil Air and Safety Authority (CASA) licences, and it is anticipated that there may be training bottlenecks for pilots due to the lower aviation activity and limited access to simulators. For Ground Operations, concern is expressed that skilled workers, for example baggage handlers, cargo and ramp services employees, may be permanently lost due to being stood down or made redundant.
Maritime
The Maritime IRC’s 2021 Industry Outlook (abridged annual update) states the pandemic has caused significant disruptions for the industry sector and is struggling to maintain tourism, ferry and cargo operations. Inconsistencies around border closures are making employment and business survival difficult, and the international sub-sector is exposed to the risk of infection as seafarers enter ports with severe COVID-19 issues. Due to reduced employment opportunities, qualified crew members are leaving regional areas which will result in extreme skills shortages.
The Maritime Industry Australia Ltd (MIAL) Pre-budget Submission 2021-22 provides a synopsis of the impacts of COVID-19 on the Maritime Industry. The submission states the pandemic has had far reaching impacts, with the effects on the sub-sectors varying dependent on the nature of their operations. The examples provided include that marine tourism has been decimated; the volume of activity in offshore oil and gas services has reduced dramatically with many vessels leaving Australia; towage and port services declined and are still not back to their pre-COVID levels; support services are experiencing a downturn due to lower levels of activity and the inability to work as normal due to border closures; and the international and internal border closures have created a huge cost impost on the industry due to quarantine requirements, increased travel costs and limited aviation linkages, and wages for employing duplicate employees to cover those unable to attend their workplaces. The Maritime Industry Profile by the Logistics & Defence Skills Council in Western Australia reports temporary relocation of workers is being explored as the hard border restrictions have prevented the sector from mobilising their permanent crew, which due to the highly specialised nature of some of the roles approximately 50% are fly-in, fly-out workers based in the eastern states and New Zealand.
The press release for the Safety & Shipping Review 2021 states that the pandemic is still affecting the ability to make the required crew changes, with approximately 200,000 seafarers unable to be repatriated in March 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions. The working conditions are making it difficult to attract and train new people and there may be crew shortages when international trade rebounds. The Maritime Industry Profile states the requirement that cruise ships dock in regional areas in Western Australia from February 2020 had been expected to provide a financial boon for these areas, and the Queensland Transport and Logistics Workforce, Current and Future Trends: Maritime and Ports released in 2018 identifies cruising as an area of potential growth for the maritime industry sector, with increases in domestic cruising of 23.4% recorded between 2015 and 2016. However, the human biosecurity emergency period under the Biosecurity Act 2015, which has been in place since 18 March 2020, has been extended several times, with the 2 September 2021 announcement extending the period until 17 December 2021. This extends the four existing emergency determinations including restrictions on the entry of cruise vessels within Australian territory. Cruise ships, defined as capable of carrying more than 100 passengers, are prohibited from operating cruises.
Rail
The Rail industry is providing essential services during the pandemic. The Rail IRC’s 2021 Industry Outlook (abridged annual update) states the domestic and international restrictions in the shipment of goods and falls passenger numbers have negatively impacted the sub-sector. The Rail Transport: Freight Industry Snapshot highlights the sub-sector has been continuing with construction, maintenance, and operational work in Western Australia. However, many companies previously relied on fly-in, fly-out workers and have needed to undertake recruitment drives for more locally based trainees. Additionally, there is a shortage of trainers and assessors in Western Australia, many of whom have returned to operational roles to fill shortfalls, which will exacerbate pre-existing shortages for Train Drivers, Train Controllers and Track Workers. It is mentioned in the Infrastructure Workforce and Skills Supply report that international travel restrictions may increase skills shortages in rail due to the sub-sector’s reliance on overseas skilled workers. Rail IRC’s 2021 Industry Outlook (abridged annual update) raises the issue of recertification for rail operators as training delivery has been affected by the pandemic.
For rail passenger transport, operators have introduced a wide range of additional measures to support the continued safe operation of the network, including increased deep cleaning, additional services during peak shoulder periods, and minimising touchpoints. The Rail Transport: Passenger Industry Snapshot shows patronage was heavily reduced on passenger trains as a result of COVID-19, with 4,148,169 less passenger movements in May 2020 when compared to the same period in May 2019. The Australasian Railway Association reports the first quarter of 2021 had 100 million fewer rail journals than in pre-COVID times. The number grew in the second quarter of 2021, but was curtailed by lockdowns in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is noted in the Value of Rail 2020: the Contribution of Rail in Australia that the future of rail and public transport after the pandemic is uncertain as the extent of patron behavioural changes to working from home and alternate methods of transport is still unknown.
Transport and Logistics
The Transport and Logistics IRC's 2021 Industry Outlook (abridged annual update) states the pandemic has caused significant disruptions to supply chains across the world. The rollout of the vaccination program will also be a further challenge to the supply chain sector. The global supply chain has been significantly affected by the pandemic and strict lockdown measures in many countries. There are unprecedented demands for critical products, and the industry has encountered mail and parcel delivery delays and shortages of products.
A view from the top: current workforce challenges in supply chain and logistics reports that the pandemic and the continued interruption to the flow of raw materials and finished goods by lockdowns highlighted previously invisible vulnerabilities in Australia’s complex global and national supply chains. Transport workers travelling between states and territories have needed to negotiate a wide number of regulations and requirements, for which the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator has maintained a resource to provide assistance.
The Logistics & Defence Industry Skills Council Road Transport Industry Profiles and Snapshots state in relation to freight that trucking businesses within the grocery and fuel supply chains continue to be in high demand throughout the pandemic (largely due to panic buying), however other small to medium operators experienced reduced or no work; for passenger transport, on-demand transport and regional charter bus services experienced a downturn which resulted in job losses, and there was an 80% decrease in bus usage; and within furniture removal training has stopped. For Warehousing and Storage Services, the increased demand in online shopping and panic buying during the early stages of COVID-19 has required both small and large companies to accelerate their capacity to deliver in the e-commerce market, with the flow on effects of the need for additional facilities to store their stock locally and to process deliveries, and increased postal deliveries.
Commencing March 2020, Australia Post changed the requirement for signatures on delivery to avoid unnecessary contact. Extended lockdowns have caused surges in parcel deliveries as record numbers of people shopped online. During the 2021 lockdowns, around 500 of Australia Post’s people on any given day have been in precautionary self-isolation in accordance with state regulations. Parcel deliveries in Victoria were temporarily suspended to allow workers time to catch up with processing. Air freight capacity issues have led to the temporary suspension of deliveries outbound from Australia and from other countries to Australia. The 2021 Inside Australian Online Shopping Industry Report states Australian online shopping reached an all-time high in 2020, with online purchases growing 57% year-on-year. The September 2021 update finds purchases in August were 24% higher than August 2020, equivalent to the online shopping levels seen around Christmas 2020.
The Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey for the reference period March 2021 reports a slow, steady return to using public transport since restrictions began in March 2020 with one in seven (14%) Australians reporting they used public transport one or more times a week in March 2021 compared with one in 11 (9%) in September 2020. However, almost one in four (23%) people reported using public transport one or more times a week before COVID-19 restrictions began in March 2020. A journal article investigating bio-security concerns of Australian public transport users finds that concerns about the hygiene, crowding and compliance with public health orders by other users of public transport are enduring, and may need to be addressed to promote the sub-sector’s recovery.
