Quarantine crisis deepens, 60,000 new cars stuck at sea and port

[Wretched]

More than 60,000 new motor vehicles – equivalent to almost one month worth of deliveries – are caught-up in a quarantine traffic jam on a scale never seen before in Australia.

The unprecedented bottleneck has forced thousands of customers stuck in the queue to wait even longer for their new car.

At least two-dozen car-carrying ships are anchored offshore or are in transit between ports – creating a pile-up at docks around the country – as expert cleaning teams struggle to treat vehicles for serious biosecurity hazards such as seeds and pests that threaten Australian agriculture.

Stevedores who specialise in car transport told Drive it normally takes 24 hours – working around the clock – to unload a vessel carrying 3000 new cars, disembarking approximately 125 new cars per hour.

However, quarantine cleaning teams can only process vehicles at a rate of nine cars per hour – during normal business hours – as the vehicles need to be thoroughly checked and cleaned....

https://www.drive.com.au/news/quaran...cars-stranded/