Amazon shutters main Sydney distribution centre after Covid-19 outbreak

One of the nation’s largest online retailers has been forced to shut down its Sydney operations after a coronavirus outbreak at its chief fulfilment centre.

The Amazon fulfilment centre in Sydney’s Moorebank.

One of the nation’s largest online retailers has been forced to shut down its Sydney operations after a coronavirus outbreak at its chief fulfilment centre.

Two workers at the Amazon Australia facility in Moorebank, in the city’s southwest, tested positive to Covid-19 at the weekend, sending most of their fellow staff into isolation as they awaited their own test results.

The 44,000sq m centre, stocked with half a million products and has a pool of more than 100 casual workers, has been temporarily shuttered and is in the process of being deep cleaned. A source told The Australian the infected staff recently worked contrasting shifts at the centre, meaning they came into contact with both day and night teams.

The fulfilment centre is now unable to ship the tens of thousands of orders it receives daily out to Amazon’s distribution centres across NSW, Victoria and Queensland for delivery.

Casual workers across all of Amazon’s Sydney warehouses were informed of the outbreak on Monday morning, and warned it could result in their rostered hours being cut. Recruitment agency Adecco, which employ all of Amazon’s warehouse workers on casual contracts, informed employees in an email that there “may be shift changes”.

“Following two confirmed cases of Covid-19 at our Sydney fulfilment centre (BWU1), and out of an abundance of caution to enable further investigations, Amazon are temporarily pausing operations at BWU1/BWU1. As a result, there may be shift changes as your site,” the message said.

Amazon Australia bosses held emergency talks on Monday to figure out how they could continue processing orders. They are hoping to draft in workers from other warehouses to the Moorebank facility once it has been deep-cleaned and then operate at a reduced capacity until staff are out of isolation.

“The whole Amazon model prides itself on something called ‘The Perfect Mile’ and the final stage of that mile is getting the package to the customer – so essentially that whole process chain cannot be completed at the moment as no orders can be fulfilled,” a source said. “There are other fulfilment centres across the country but considering the biggest centre has been taken out, the roll-on effect to customers could last weeks.

Director of Operations at Amazon Australia Craig Fuller told The Australian the shopping giant is providing assistance to workers who have been impacted.

“We are supporting two team members as they isolate at home. The safety of our people remains our highest priority and we have taken prompt, proactive measures to to ensure the safety of employees at our site. We are working with NSW Health and will continue to follow their guidance,” Mr Fuller said.

Amazon Australia has insisted all staff wear face masks at all times inside their facilities and installed motion detector social distancing cameras. However, these are not spread throughout the warehouses and staff members usually work in close proximity to each other for certain processes.