Royal Mail International Update August 2018

Transcription

1 Royal Mail International Update August 2018 This update, about incidents which have affected international mail services throughout August, was issued by Royal Mail Customer Services on Monday 10 September Information about issues currently affecting the movement of international mail, including international bank holidays, can be found at: Africa Libya Start date: 16 July 2014 Mail services to Libya are currently suspended until further notice. South Africa Start date: 1 October 2017 Very poor service has been observed for mail into South Africa. South Africa Post Office has advised this is due to abnormally high volumes of mail. This has created bottlenecks in their processing locations due to space constraints and processing capacity. The communicated recovery plan expected at the end of October does not look to have resolved the issues and with the peak Christmas volumes, this is likely to increase delays. Delays are approximately 35 days. Asia India Start date: 8 August 2018 There is severe flooding in Kerala, Southern India. Delays of up to 14 days can be expected for all mail services to the southern region of India (Chennai, Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka) and delays of over 35 days for items destined for Kerala. Page 1 of 5

2 Indonesia Start date: 5 August 2018 Indonesia Post has advised us about an earthquake centred on Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara Province on Sunday 5 August. As a result many post offices have suffered major damage and delays are expected to the processing and delivery of mail services. The affected districts and areas are: Mataram: , Selong: and Sumbawa Besar: Japan Start date: 11 July 2018 End date: 5 September 2018 Gifu, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, Tokushima, Ehime and Kochi in Western Japan experienced typhoons, heavy rains and massive flooding. As a result, many mail processing facilities were closed and there were delays to the delivery of mail and parcels. South Korea Start date: 22 August 2018 End date: 27 August 2018 Typhoon Soulik hit South Korea on 22 August resulting in mail delays in the region. Normal service resumed on 27 August. Syria Start date: 6 December 2012 Mail services to Syria are currently suspended until further notice. Australasia No incidents reported. Europe France Start date: 16 July 2018 End date: 9 September 2018 Tracked services to France were showing incomplete tracking information despite the item having been delivered. La Poste updated their tracking system in July and following this it appears there was a loss of some delivery scan events as a result. Ireland Start date: 1 August 2018 End date: 20 August 2018 Heavy volumes of mail were having a negative effect on the processing time of tracked products through the An Post facility. As a result, Tracked, Signed and Tracked & Signed were taking an extra 24/48 hours for delivery. Page 2 of 5

3 Italy Start date: 1 February 2017 We have become aware of processing delays on all inbound international traffic arriving in Italy. To reflect the current transit times, we are temporarily extending our delivery aims as follows: Untracked products: 6-8 working days; Tracked products: 4-6 working days and Tracked and Signed For products: 5-7 working days. Italy Start date: 14 August 2018 Poste Italiane has informed us that due to the motorway bridge collapse in Genoa on Tuesday 14 August, they are facing difficulties in transportation, processing and delivery of post in the affected area. We are expecting a further update with zip codes affected. Luxemburg/Switzerland Start date: 15 January 2018 We are currently experiencing issues with the handler for these two destinations. In the interim, emergency routes have been setup for these 2 destinations while we look for alternative solutions. As result, it's possible that all mail services may experience delays of up to 24 hours. Norway Start date: 1 August 2018 End date: 31 August 2018 Norwegian Post advised the modernisation of their International Mail Hub was having a negative impact to the time to process tracked products through the facility. As a result, tracked items were taking an average of 6 days from posting to delivery in Norway. Normal service resumed at the end of August. Spain Start date: 24 August 2018 End date: 25 August 2018 Unionised security staff at Madrid-Barajas Airport were due to go on strike from Friday 24 August until Monday 3 September. However talks were successful and the strike was called off. Sweden Start date: November 2017 End date: Estimate 30/6/18 Tracking information on our 'Tracked Only' products to Sweden have been experiencing difficulties due to technical issues following a system update with Swedish Post has updated us that they are still getting used to their new processes and experience IT problems. Swedish Post continue to monitor this and are working hard to resolve the issue. Ukraine (Crimea & Sevestapol) Start date: 18 March 2014 Mail services to Crimea and Sevestapol are suspended until further notice. Page 3 of 5

4 Latin America & Caribbean Brazil Start date: 16 October 2017 We've been advised that there are currently delays with mail in to Brazil. We believe this may be due to industrial action, however this is yet to be confirmed. However, what we can say is that any mail posted in the last 5-7 days could be in a backlog and any mail affected may experience at least a 10 day delay from posting to delivery. We are taking steps to re-route where possible and expect any new postings from the end of this week to be clear of the backlog, but could still be subject to some delay in delivery of 3 days or more. Guatemala Start date: 13 April 2017 Guatemala post has informed us it is currently facing difficulties and has accumulated a backlog of mail. As a result of this mail services from the UK to Guatemala are currently suspended until further notice. Jamaica Start date: 2 August 2018 End date: 8 August 2018 Jamaica Post reported loss of Internet connectivity from Thursday 2 August until 8 August This affected its ability to perform the necessary mail scans and updates in processing inbound and outbound mail. Venezuela Start date: 4 July 2017 The local situation has disrupted mail flows into Venezuela and our supplier has had to stop delivering mail in to Venezuela. As a result, we can no longer accept any mail for Venezuela, any mail on hand will be returned to sender. We don't know when the situation will change, but we will look for alternative ways of getting mail in to Venezuela. Middle East Yemen Start date: 27 March 2015 Mail services to Yemen are currently suspended until further notice. Page 4 of 5

5 North America (USA & Canada) Canada Start date: 9 October 2017 There are delays of approximately 10 working days for untracked items, 5 working days for Tracked with signature items and a day on Tracked items. While priority is given to parcel products, there is still an extra 1-2 days delay. Canada Post and Customs are working together to provide additional resourcing and looking at ways in which to ease the congestion. We recommend where possible you use our Tracked service for the fastest and most reliable postal service. Other Ascension Islands/Saint Helena Start date: 6 February 2018 Air transportation to the Ascension Islands/St Helena is currently reduced due to ongoing runway work. Unfortunately, given the location of the countries, there is no viable alternative which would arrive any earlier. Although, customers can continue to send mail there will be significant delays in the delivery of all products. Please note that mail to the Falkland Island is not affected. Help and advice More information about Royal Mail s international products and services is available on our royalmail.com/international pages. Alternatively, if you re a business customer you can contact your usual Royal Mail service contact or call our dedicated Business Centre on If you re a residential customer, you ll need to call Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered number Registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 100 Victoria Embankment, LONDON, EC4Y 0HQ Page 5 of 5