THE PORT of Brisbane is back to normal operation and the Brisbane River was reopened on 14 March to commercial traffic in the wake of ex-cyclone Alfred.
The bulk carrier Apex Voyager, was one of only two ships which hadn’t completed cargo before the port closed, and has been waiting since 3 March to depart.
The port has confirmed operations are resuming with the shipping channel nearly back to full capacity with final surveys being made to ensure safe navigation.
Flooding is still an issue with heavy rainfall causing local creeks to flood and has left some roads in poor condition.
According to the ABC some supermarket shelves have been stripped bare across Queensland and northern New South Wales because of panic buying in the build-up to the anticipated cyclone.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has urged the supermarkets to make every effort to restock the shelves.
He said many people were only just getting power back on and needed to visit the supermarket to restock fridges and freezers.
The ABC said Woolworths were reporting that they had hundreds of trucks back on the road with teams restocking shelves.
The Queensland Trucking Association (QTA) gas been vocal about the challenges faced by the road freight industry following Alfred and other severe weather events.
The QTA said road freight businesses had made significant losses which for some fleets could be in he order of $100,000 a day with trucks being forced to make huge detours.
