How the carrier services have performed during second lockdown

Fireworks lit up the night’s sky on Guy Fawkes night 8 days ago, but there was not much celebrating across the UK. On 5th November, England joined the rest of Britain by going into full lockdown. Non-essential stores, restaurants, and pubs closed for patrons, indoor sports halted, and the country’s workforce were once again encouraged to work from home. 

The lockdown at the end of March led to a huge spike in eCommerce. Online transactions in the UK grew an astounding 168% in May, with eCommerce orders settling at a new norm 30-40% higher than last year. Peak season traditionally kicks off the week of Black Friday, which is the 27th November this year, with a high volume of sales lasting until Christmas. With this year’s peak getting underway during a lockdown, the retail industry must be prepared for a second outbreak of eCommerce orders.

The COVID-19 processes implemented at the start of the year are still in place for a large amount of our carrier network. As a result disruption has been impacted far less than before. Here’s an update on how the carrier services are performing a week into Lockdown Part II:

An Post – An Post is experiencing a higher volume of parcels than ever before. Mail is being delivered as normal, but some parcels will experience delays. Opening hours have been shortened across some post offices with one closure in Dublin. 

Colissimo – As with the UK, France’s second lockdown is not quite as strict as its first back in March. People can travel to work more freely than before and children are still attending school. This means Colissimo has remained open as normal since it started at the end of October, however with non-essential shops closed, their PUDO network has been significantly impacted with 35% of stores closed.

DHL – DHL has issued a temporary service adjustment that outlines the impact lanes with a number that should expect an additional day in transit time.or more. Most services in Europe have not been impacted. DHL remains on top of the pandemic through its taskforce and safety-first approach to deliveries.

DPD – DPD’s delivery operations are running normally in many countries in lockdown including Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Republic of Ireland, and Slovenia. There are some minor delays at the Greek borders as private travel restrictions have created traffic issues which has had the knock on effect of delaying DPD vehicle arrival times. Expect delays of 24 hours for Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland.

FedEx – Until further notice TNT UK domestic non-conveyable shipments will experience a two-day transit time in the UK. FedEx UK domestic and international shipments are not impacted. Receive over counter locations have been closed until further notice in Ireland and TNT Economy services are suspended in Armenia. FedEx has added extra flights from Europe to the US to meet demand. 

Hermes – There is currently no impact on Hermes parcel delivery services. You can still send, receive, and return parcels contact-free and home collections are offered from just £2.45.

Royal Mail – “Normal deliveries and collections should take place across most of the UK today. However, there may be limited deliveries in some areas due to resourcing issues in a small number of our delivery offices.” Delays have been kept to a minimum with a small number of exceptions in Basildon, Benfleet, Halfway, Maidstone, and Stratford. They made further changes to timed guarantees at the end of September which you can read about here.

This week’s news of a potential 90%-effective vaccine, whilst uplifting, is unlikely to get back things back to normal or change consumer behaviour in 2020. With people back at home for Black Friday and Christmas, retailers, carrier services, and warehouses alike must prepare for the biggest and busiest peak seasons yet in eCommerce.