UK postal workers postpone their final strike for 30 Sept and 1 Oct. Port of Felixstowe set to be balloted over a second strike, and Golden Week holiday in China will disrupt services across the country Oct 1 - 7.

Macro Update:

Strikes by UK postal workers have been postponed after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The planned strikes will continue on 30 September and 1 October 2022. This strike action is likely to cause disruption across all postal services. 

Dockers at the port of Felixstowe are set to be balloted over a second strike, which may be timed to overlap with a walkout at Liverpool. Port users fear the new action could involve a 15-day walkout, coinciding with a two-week strike at Liverpool starting 19 September.

Severe weather continues to affect services in New Zealand. To read more about which regions are affected, head to our Australia and New Zealand section below.

The October Golden Week holiday in China is soon approaching. The public holiday starts on October 1, which is the country’s National Day, and the holiday extends to October 7. Normal business resumes on October 8. 

During the seven-day public holiday, almost all businesses, factories as well as government organizations will be closed or low-staffed. This means that production will be slowed down or completely stopped. Airports, sea ports and warehouses will be operating with limited capacity and customs offices will be closed.

Service Updates:

Australia & New Zealand

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Direct injection International services at this time: No delays

Aramex: 

Services are affected in Geelong, Perth, Capricorn Coast and Wollongong. Read more about Aramex disruptions here.

New Zealand Post: 

Severe weather in recent weeks continues to delay deliveries in some areas, due to inter-island ferry disruption and road closures. There are delays of up to 2 working days in the South Island and all parcels sent between the North and South Islands (in both directions) 

There delays of 1 working day for the transporting of parcels between the Upper North Island and Lower North Island Winter illnesses and COVID-related absences are still impacting deliveries of up to 2 working days in the Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu and Wellington regions.

Asia

Pakistan

Certain areas of Pakistan are still severely affected by flooding. As a result, there may be disruption to mail operations and delays to the delivery of postal items.

China

Items destined for China are still experiencing delays due to ongoing operational delays within China. As a result, China post is unable to guarantee compliance with the agreed delivery standards and delays should be expected for items destined for China.

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Direct injection International services at this time: No delays

US

While weather and flooding conditions have improved, continued road closures in Yellowstone National Park have prompted suspension of FedEx Freight operations that service portions of the area.

Fulfillment services: Remain unaffected by delays and same day dispatch is being met as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Shipping services: Operational and as per SLAs.

UK

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has postponed its final strike for 30 September and 1 October 2022. This strike action is likely to cause some disruption. You can find out more at royalmail.com/latest-news.

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

International from the UK: We are seeing slight delays for DDU, not DDP deliveries, where there is an IOSS number. Average delivery times of 5-8 day are now taking 8-11 days. We encourage all customers to have their IOSS number as this helps with improving the clearance process to deliver into the EU.

EU

Due to temporary adjustments to the FedEx transatlantic air network, transit times for FedEx International Priority Freight (IPF) shipments from Europe to the US, CA and LAC will be extended by 1 day, effective 29th August until 2nd October 2022. Read more here.

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Freight Forwarding Update:

Sea freight - Asia to north America

We’ve seen a slight drop in pricing for LCL and FCL, however rates are still elevated. 

Space: We continue to experience space issues with most carriers

Booking: We recommend booking well and truly in advance (5-6 weeks), we cannot guarantee that the space will always be available.

Sea Freight - Asia- Europe

Rates are still at record highs, although they have gone down slightly. 

Space: Continues to be a concern

Booking: We recommend booking well and truly in advance (5-6 weeks).

Sea Freight - Asia - Australia

Pricing is still relatively elevated.

Space: Continues to be a concern

Booking: We recommend booking in advance (4-5 weeks).

Air freight

COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to impact services and limit capacities globally.

Direct injection

B360 has its own Direct Injection network that runs from Sydney to the US, Hong Kong to Europe, Hong Kong to Australia and Hong Kong to the US. These channels are still very reliable, with transit times on average being 4-8 days, we see no changes as per the SLAs at this time.

To learn more about any of our updates or to make carrier changes, please reach out to us today.