MORE than 200,000 litres of fuel and 40 semi-trailer loads of fresh food will be unloaded from a barge in Cairns today to restock supermarket shelves.
Coles and Woolworths turned to the sea by securing places on the barge after floodwaters cut the Bruce Highway and railway lines between Cairns and Townsville.
See our Far Northern flood pictures, click here.
Big companies fear floods on the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Mackay will throw road transport into chaos as resources are stretched to the limit.
The MV Trinity Bay, owned by local shipping company Sea Swift, diverted its operations to collect urgent food supplies on Wednesday night. It docked in Cairns last night after its 13-hour sea voyage from Townsville.
Stocks from the barge are expected to reach shelves by tonight, ready for the weekend grocery rush.
About 300 tonnes was shipped in for 10 Coles stores in the region, while Woolworths had three times the amount with 900 tonnes for eight shops.
"In the last three days we've been loading from rail to trucks as soon as they get into Bowen and Mackay. We truck them to Townsville to be put on the barge to Cairns," Woolworths Queensland regional manager Tony Condon said.
"In terms of Cyclone Larry, he hit and left but with this, the rain keeps coming. We are using every available truck and we are running out of them."
Coles sent 16 tonnes of fresh vegetables and essentials such as rice, sugar and batteries on a freight plane from Brisbane last night.
But IGA's 200 tonnes of food will not arrive in Cairns from Townsville by barge until Monday.
Cornetts IGA area manager Denzil Bignoux said the store had enough supplies for the weekend, while Trinity Beach IGA's Evette Deconinck said her store had plenty of stock.
"We've just got about everything in fresh produce; avocados, watermelon, stone fruits, apples, the whole lot," Ms Deconinck said.
Goodman Fielder salesman Troy Hudson said Country Bake expected 20 tonnes of flour to arrive today to bake more bread for local stores.
Parcels bound for Cairns are being held at Australia Post's Townsville Mail Centre until the Bruce Highway reopens.
Small and larger letters, as well as express mail, are flown into Cairns and delivered daily.
