| HEADLINE COUNTRIES
AUSTRALIA – There was an industry-wide spike in air transport delays to Australia through July and early August – please review the link: https://www.bitre.gov.au/statistics/aviation/otp_month
which provides some good statistics on airline delays during this period. We worked with our partners to source multiple alternate carriers, including cargo transports, to bring the air transport timings back to a reasonable level, while balancing the reduced air capacity. While services are still not at pre-COVID/weather disaster levels, we are seeing continued improvement using our opt-mized routing.
NETHERLANDS – NL Customs – IT Challenges causing delays for commercial DDP shipments. NL Customs have been experiencing intermittent IT delays, this was resolved mid-last week but resulted in some delays in customs clearance while backlogs were cleared. This was an IT issue that impacted all shippers clearing through the Netherlands.
UNITED KINGDOM – Royal Mail has published the dates of planned strike action for the CWU for the remainder of 2022. For our customers using our tracked parcel services, there will be no impact as we work with direct courier delivery partners in the UK and are not reliant on Royal Mail. Please reach out to your account manager for further information on these services if you are not currently using them and would like to do so during the industrial action.
There may be some disruption for our customers using our untracked solutions for mail and publications. ePG sorts and delivers directly to RM regional distribution hubs throughout the UK so that mail is close to the final delivery destination. Mail delivered the evening before a strike action day will be processed to final delivery the day after the strike.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort, and deliver parcels and letters to take further national strike action on the following dates:
· Friday 30 September 2022 and Saturday 1 October 2022
· Thursday 13 October 2022
· Thursday 20 October 2022
· Tuesday 25 October 2022
· Monday 28 November 2022
There are additional strike dates which will impact only some of the Royal Mail functions:
Processing, Distribution, International, Collections, Admin: 3, 9, 15, 24 November and 1 December 2022 – deliveries will be made for all material sorted by Royal Mail the evening before the strike action.
· Processing, Distribution, International, Collections, Admin: 3, 9, 15, 24 November and 1 December 2022.
· Deliveries will be made on these dates for all pre sorted material.
· Delivery: 4, 10, 16, 25 November and 2 December 2022 – letter mail will not be delivered. Special Delivery, and RM tracked services will be delivered.
· Network: 2, 8, 14, 23, 30 November 2022 – minimal impact as ePG delivers directly into RM UK regional delivery centres for the final mile delivery.
Royal Mail will be working to get our services back to normal as quickly as possible. Royal Mail has well-developed contingency plans, but we cannot fully replace the daily efforts of our frontline workforce. We’ll be doing what we can to keep services running, but you should expect disruption on dates when strike action is taking place.
OTHER DELAYS
AFGHANISTAN – All mail and parcel services are suspended indefinitely.
GREECE – Hellenic Post has updated that they are currently experiencing an IT system issue. The post is working to resolve this issue as soon as possible, however, items destined for Greece may experience delays until this has been fixed.
JAMAICA – Jamaica Post has advised that their international mail processing center has been experiencing IT issues affecting the connectivity and customs-related procedures which have prevented the processing of International Mail. As a result, delays should be expected to items destined for Jamaica while this is resolved.
OFAC / BIS COUNTRIES – ePG is fully compliant with US Federal regulations, and our team monitors the registers:
https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/policy-guidance/country-guidance/sanctioned-destinations
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/office-of-foreign-assets-control-sanctions-programs
Current sanctioned destinations are:
· CUBA – BIS
· IRAN – OFAC
· NORTH KOREA – BIS
· SUDAN – OFAC & BIS
· SYRIA – BIS
RUSSIA – All mail and parcel services suspended indefinitely.
SOUTH AFRICA – South African Post – relocation of the office of exchange was completed early August. The post advise that there are still delays as they clear the backlog accumulated during the move. |
