Postal operators around the world are suspending mail and parcel services to China and warning of delays in inbound parcels as the coronavirus crisis impacts heavily on the postal sector.
International flight cancellations, extensive protective measures for staff in China and other factors are combining to impact on postal operations to and from the country. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that packages from China are safe to receive as viruses cannot survive for long on objects.
A spokesperson for the Universal Postal Union (UPU) told CEP-Research today: “It is clear the spread of the novel corona virus is impacting airline flights and the movement of post and parcels. UPU is paying careful attention to the operational situation and working with the international postal network to try to resolve these issues and hopefully get back to normal as quickly as possible.”
Over the last few days, various postal operators have suspended acceptance of letters, parcels and EMS express items destined for China (and in some cases also transit items) after numerous major international airlines suspended their flights to and from the country, meaning that sufficient transport capacity is no longer available.
These include the postal operators of Austria, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland (partly).
The US Postal Service informed other UPU members yesterday (February 11) that it is “currently experiencing significant difficulties” in sending letters, parcels and EMS items to China, Hong Kong and Macao due to the flight suspensions.
“As a consequence, starting immediately, USPS can no longer accept transit letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items destined for China, Hong Kong and Macao, until sufficient transport capacity becomes available.” However, it is currently still accepting items posted in the USA for these destinations.
On February 7, the UPU shared with its 192 members worldwide the latest updated information provided by China Post about the situation and the postal operator’s measures to deal with the crisis.
Citing WHO information, China Post said that coronaviruses do not survive for long on objects. “It is therefore safe to receive postal items from China, without risk of contracting the new coronavirus,” it emphasised.
Moreover, the Chinese postal organisation underlined that it had implemented measures to ensure the safety of mail processing and postal staff, including disinfection of postal offices, processing centres and transportation vehicles, and monitoring of postal staff’s physical health.
“For all inbound mail (letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items), China Post will contact the recipient by telephone in advance to inquire as to their delivery preferences. Delivery will be conducted via non-face-to-face methods, such as temporary storage at the postal outlet, availability for collection from the outlet, or delivery to a smart parcel locker. Therefore, delays should be expected in the processing and delivery of inbound mail, and it may not be possible to provide written proof of delivery,” it advised.
Moreover, due to flight cancellations, transit mail going via China to several neighbouring countries would be temporarily stored, resulting in transport and delivery delays, it added.
