This Week in the Market, Edition 95 – 16 August 2016

In today’s This Week in the Market, reminder and update on the power outage this Saturday including a secondary outage for all warehouse tenants, Market hours consultation begins this week and have your say on the North East truck curfew trial. 

Market News

Update on the power outage – Saturday 20 August. 

By now, most Market stand, store or warehouse tenants should have received notification on the power outage on Saturday 20 August.

In case you’ve missed it, here are the key points you need to know:

1. The outage will occur between 10.30am to 4:00pm on Saturday 20 August
2. Before the outage, it’s recommended all tenants with cooling keep all PIR panel doors closed to retain desired temperatures as long as possible. As the shut down is only scheduled for five and a half hours, the temperatures won’t change dramatically in cool rooms if PIR panel doors are kept closed. PIR panels used to construct cool rooms are designed to keep temperatures within one degree over a 24 hour period.
3. Consider minimising stock holdings in stores or warehouses over the weekend of 20 August.
4. If you have electronic equipment such as computers or laptops make sure you switch them off and save all data.
5. If you have cooling, you need to check with your cooling supplier to see if your cooling system will automatically resume once power is restored. If not, you need to either be onsite yourself or have you contractor on site to check your system is up and running.
6. You can still access the site during the shut down, but restrictions will apply.
7. If you need power, the MMA can organise a generator (at tenant’s cost) via the Help Desk as soon as possible.
8. All Market toilets will be closed during the shut down, however port-a-loos will be located on site.

Secondary power shut down on 23 & 24 August for all Market warehouses. 

In addition to the site-wide power shut down on Saturday 20 August, the Melbourne Market will also be undergoing routine maintenance for the substations on site on 23 & 24 August.  

This means, warehouses within the Market will have no power on either 23 or 24 August in addition to the 20 August site-wide power shut down.

The following schedule of outages will occur. Please refer to the chart and the map below to see when your tenancy will be effected.
 

Click on the map to view a larger image. 


Further details on the power shut down can be found at on the Melbourne Market website or contact the MMA directly via the Help Desk on 0437 006 459. 

 

Market hours

In last week’s edition of This Week in the Market, we discussed the critical success factors for an efficient and sustainable wholesale Market. 

With so many moving parts to this review, it’s important that each user group thinks about the key challenges impacting on their own operation, but also how changes to Market hours would consequently impact on the operations of the Market as a whole. 

A review of Market hours was conducted in 2014 with the following challenges identified for each user group. 



Now that we’ve been operating at Epping for almost a year, are these issues the same? Have new issues come to light? Have changes been made to your business operations that have changed your perspective on Market hours?

Consultation on Market hours is due to start this week. McKinna et al will be in the Market tomorrow morning to talk to Market users. Following this, they will be meeting with all Market Advisory Committees this week. 

Alternatively, you can get in touch with McKinna et al  on 9696 1966 or email strategicinsights@mckinna.com.au alternatively you can talk with your Advisory Committee members.

Sale/Warehousing/Wholesale of Fruit and Vegetables – Food Act 1984

 
You may have recently been contacted by City of Whittlesea Environmental Health requesting completion of a form to register your warehouse premises.
 
This process ensures that Council have contact details for all premises and it is a requirement of the Food Act 1984. These contact details are important should there be a food recall which you need to know about. For example, recently there has been a problem with salmonella in rock melons.
 
If you have moved from the West Melbourne site, these forms may be new to you. But please be aware, this is a requirement and you must complete them.

Key facts: 

• If you handle only uncut fruit and vegetables there is no fee to register and you only have to do it once for each premises.
• If you cut fruit or vegetables you will be required to pay a registration fee and have an annual inspection of your cutting area. Your cutting area must have a hand wash basin and an equipment sink.
• The form for premises handling uncut fruit and vegetables is attached. If you haven’t received a copy of the form, you can download one here.
• Forms should be returned by 31 August 2016.

 
For more details, or to return your completed form, contact Clare Potten on 03 9217 2501 or email Clare.Potten@whittlesea.vic.gov.au. 

Industry news

North East truck curfew trial – have your say

As most of you are aware, since August 2015 VicRoads have been trialing a truck curfew in the North East suburbs of Montmorency, Eltham and Viewbank. The trial is due to come to an end and VicRoads are seeking feedback to determine the outcome of the trial.

An online feedback portal is currently available. Make sure you have your say to ensure VicRoads are receiving balanced feedback from both residents and road users or download a copy of the feedback form and return it to VicRoads before the due date.

Feedback closes on Sunday 21 August – don’t miss out!

Click here to enter your feedback online now.

Work to fix M80 Ring Road congestion begins soon

The M80 Ring Road upgrade between Sunshine Avenue and the Calder Freeway works are due to start within weeks and are expected to be completed by late 2018.

The project will ease congestion and provide a safer experience for the 160,000 vehicles that use the freeway every day.

The upgrade of the M80 include:

• more lanes in each direction,
• improved interchanges,
• strengthening and safety improvements to the EJ Whitten Bridge, and
• widening from two lanes to four to fix the notorious bottle neck at Sunshine Avenue.

The M80 Ring Road Upgrade is estimated to saving Greensborough-bound motorists up to 15 minutes and Altona-bound motorists up to 10 minutes. Find out more about the M80 upgrades here.

Key Dates

Forklift refresher training

• 15-17 August

Site power shut down

• 20 August

Fresh State Gala Ball 2016

• 3 September 2016

Ask the MMA

If you’ve got a question for the MMA email it to submissions@melbournemarket.com.au.