19 Sept is a public holiday for UK and Canada in observance of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral. Australia will also hold a national day of mourning on 22 Sept and Liverpool dock workers begin two-week strike today.

Macro Update:

Due to the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Monday 19 September 2022 has been declared an official UK public bank holiday. As a result, there will be no pickup or delivery services in the UK during this time. We anticipate that customers may experience a 24 hours delay for shipments due for delivery in the UK on Monday, 19 September. Normal operating schedules will resume on Tuesday, 20 September 2022.

Parts of Canada will also observe the day as a National Public Holiday. As a result, delays in the delivery of items destined for Canada should be expected during this time.

Australia will also hold a National Day of Mourning to commemorate the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as a one-off public holiday on Thursday, 22 September 2022.

Hundreds of Amazon workers at a Coventry warehouse in the UK have begun voting in a formal strike ballot on whether to walk out over pay. Any industrial action is likely to take place in November. This is part of the protests staged by Amazon workers across the UK at the company’s 3% pay offer.

Hundreds of Liverpool dock workers will launch a two-week strike from today in a dispute over pay, continuing industrial unrest which has hit several sectors over the summer. Members of Unite at the Port of Liverpool will walk out this evening, hours after the Queen’s funeral.

Service Updates:

Australia & New Zealand

Australia will hold a National Day of Mourning to commemorate the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as a one-off public holiday. On Thursday, 22 September 2022, all parts of Australia will observe the day as a national public holiday. This public holiday will be a one-off and will thus not be observed in future calendar years. Postal services and post office opening hours may be affected by public holidays. Post offices will generally be closed, and no mail or parcel deliveries will take place, including express items.

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: 

In the South Island, there are delays of up to 2 working days and all parcels sent between the North and South Islands (in both directions).

Winter illnesses and COVID-related absences, road conditions and slips are delaying deliveries by up to 2 working days in the Waikato, Hawkes Bay and Wellington regions.

Asia

The China public holiday Golden Week will take place between 1 - 7 October. During the seven-day public holiday, almost all businesses, factories as well as government organizations will be closed or low-staffed.

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 & Canada

On Monday 19th of September 2022, all parts of Canada will observe the day as a National Public Holiday to commemorate the life of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. As a result, delays in the delivery of items destined for Canada should be expected during this time.

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

We anticipate that customers may experience a 24 hours delay for shipments due for delivery in the UK on Monday, 19 September, as the nation closes in observance of the royal state funeral, which has been declared a public holiday.

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.