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Truckies lose out after flooding cuts freight route
Wednesday January 7, 2009 - 08:42 EDT
The transport industry in Queensland is counting the cost of major flooding in the state's north-west, after the main freight route to Darwin was damaged.
Heavy rain has damaged a large section of the Barkly Highway between Mount Isa and the Northern Territory.
The highway will remain closed for at least three weeks while repair work is carried out.
Transport Workers Union state secretary Hughie Williams says finding an alternative route will be hard.
"To try and come up with something of that kind would be extremely expensive - It's going to be very difficult and how they're going to get their freight through it's going to be a real problem," he said.
The floods are expected to be costly for the transport industry and Mr Williams says owner-drivers will be the worst affected.
"He'll be sitting on the side of the road with nowhere to go - he's still got a very expensive capital cost sitting in that truck, the registration and all the insurances are still costing plenty of money and you've got no income," he said.
"It's going to have a massive effect on the transport industry, particularly those people that travel in that northern parts of Australia."
- ABC
© ABC
2008
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