International Service Alerts
Circumstances which can influence the transit time of your international mail
Below you find an overview of the current international service alerts. With the International Service Alerts we keep you informed on the consequences that current events in the world might have on the delivery of your international shipments. Once an update is available we will publish the additional information below
E-mail Alerts
Current events
No delivery due to COVID-19
Date: | 14 of January 2021, ongoing |
Expected delay:
| unknown, no delivery possible at this moment |
Region:
| worldwide |
Countries affected:
| Route closed; mail and package delivery not possible. At this time we do not know when the situation changes, nor can we tell you when routes reopen. The situation changes per country. Please note; we update this list regularly. Bermuda, Brunei, Bhutan, Cuba, Ecuador, Eswatinti (Swaziland), Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Cayman Islands, Lao, Saint Lucia, Libya, Lesotho, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, Sao Tome, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Yemen |
Delayed delivery due to COVID-19
Date:
| 14 of January 2021, ongoing |
Expected delay:
| unknown |
Region:
| worldwide |
Reason for service alert:
| Delivery delays due to COVID-19. The situation is constantly changing. We cannot guarantee a time of delivery. For business questions, please contact your account manager. Please note; we update this list regularly.
Anguilla, Algeria, Antigua, Barbuda, Armenia, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Croatia, Chad, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia, Curacao, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinee, France, French Guyana, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Lithuania, Latvia, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nepal, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Papua New Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Romania, Sierra Leone, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Seychelles, Switzerland, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Vatican, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia |
Italy (IT)
Date: | 14 of January 2020, ongoing |
Expected delay: | unknown |
Country: | Italy |
Reason for service alert: | Update 14 January: Poste Italiane is unable to promise their usual service of delivery to the following postal code areas, in order to minimise the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19): Messina - 98100, San Fratello - 98075, Castel di Judica - 95040, Ramacca - 95040, Gela - 93012, Milena - 93010, Villarosa - 94010, Ravanusa - 92029, Capizzi - 98031, Santa Flavia – 90017 Update 18 of December:The workers union 'Cobas' has called for a nation-wide logistical strike to take place tomorrow the 18th of December in Italy. Click here for the direct source. We expect additional delays of 1-2 days for all products to this destination on top of earlier communicated delays that concerned the Covid-19 restrictions.
Update 30th of October: Poste Italiane suspended postal services in specific areas in order to minimise the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). This affects the Crono area: Napels: Arzano (CAP 80022), Orta di Atella (CAP 81030) en Marcianise (CAP 81025), Messina: Galati Mamertino (CAP 98070), Caltanissetta: Sambuca di Sicilia (CAP 92017), Palermo: Mezzojuso (postcode 90030) en Torretta (postcode 90040), Catania: Randazzo (postcode 95036) en Troina (postcode 94018), Ragusa: Vittoria (postcode 97019) Update 22nd of October: Due to a national strike in Italy tomorrow, the 23rd of October, shipments will suffer a one day delay in processing or delivery. Special operations have been setup for Sunday, to minimize the impact on your shipments.
Update 31st of July: All zipcode area’s in Italy are open. Parcels can be delivered again. Update 6th of May: In Italy specific regions are currently inaccessible for parcel deliveries. These include Region/Postcodes: Brescia (25000 t/m 25999), Piacenza (26000 t/m 26999 and 29000 t/m 29999) and Modena (41000 t/m 41999) Regular post can still be delivered to these area’s. Italian Postal Service informs us that delivery services have resumed in off-limits municipalities, with effect from 5 March 2020. However to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, extra measurements are taken in the whole country as from today. This will lead to longer transit times than usual for mail and e commerce volumes. All services to Italy remain open. |
Spain (ES)
Date: | 12 of January 2021 |
Expected delay: | 4-7 days |
Country: | Spain |
Reason for service alert: | Update 12 January:Due to severe weather conditions in Spain, delays can be expected for the collection and delivery of all products & networks in some areas in the country. Once the weather conditions improve, the delivery will be back on track. Update 23th April: On the most zip codes parcels are being delivered again with a delay. This is still not applicable for the areas with zip codes 10900 10374 24763.Update 27th March: In Spain specific regions are currently inaccesible for parcel deliveries. These include (Region/Postcodes): Padró : 15282, 15900, 15910, 15911, 15912, 15914, 15915, 15916, 15917, 15920, 15928, 15980, 15981, 15982, 15983, 15984, 15985, 36640, 36645, 36646, 36647, 36649 Cáceres : 10900, Navalmoral de la Mata: 10374 and La Bañeza: 24763 Parcels in transit will be buffered in Spain until these regions are reopened. Regular post can still be delivered to these area’s Expected delay: 7 - 14 days |
United Kingdom (GB)
Date: | 07 of January 2021, ongoing |
Expected delay: | 4-7 days |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Reason for service alert:
| Update 07 January: While Brexit has caused multiple disruptions in our logistical network towards the UK, we are pleased to inform you that all mitigating actions we took have resulted in no further delays as from the 7th of January. The traffic jams at Calais have been resolved and we are able to handover our volumes in the UK as promised. The processing of all volumes is currently also handled according the expected transit times.
|
Sweden (SE)
Date: | 05 of January 2021 |
Expected delay: | Solved |
Country: | Sweden |
Reason for service alert: | Update 05 January: Due to an IT issue at our postal partner (PostNord) in Sweden, there might be delivery scans missing for this destination – which is estimated to be 10% of the Packet Tracked and Registered shipments. The issue is not causing any delays or a decrease in the delivery quality. |
Canada (CA)
Date:
| 28 of December 2020, ongoing |
Expected delay:
| 5-25 days |
Country:
| Canada |
Reason for service alert:
| Update 28 December: Due to a decrease in flights by Air Canada we currently have insufficient flight capacity to cover the demand. We therefor are unable to send all volumes to their dedicated entry points and are using one offs to get all volume to Canada. Due to this we expect a delay of approximately 7 days. Delays in processing by Canadian Post can differ between 5 to 25 days. Update 18 December: Due to additional flight restrictions announced during the holidays, destination USA and Canada will face additional delays. On top of this, there is a delay in customs processing of an additional 2 days on average. Update 11 July: Due to restricted access to flights and capacity issues at the only available Canada Post entry point (airport) in combination with peak volumes, we are experiencing heavy delays on our shipments to Canada. Due to corona prevention measurements, Canada Post has delays in processing. This has created a backlog, from which we also see that first in–first out processing is no longer maintained. At customs there are also delays for various reasons. We are confident that Canada Post will hold up their high performance levels on delivery (99%) albeit with heavy delays. Due to these delays, we will only start working on inquiries from our customers after 60 days. We keep monitoring the situation closely and will update our webpage on a regular basis. |
Cuba (CU)
Date:
| 28 of December 2020, ongoing |
Expected delay:
| unknown |
Country:
| Cuba |
Reason for service alert:
| Update 28 December: Due to transport issues caused by the outbreak of COVID 19 we are currently not able to provide any services to the country of Cuba. |
The Netherlands (NL)
Date of alert:
| 21 of December 2020, ongoing |
Expected delay:
| unknown |
Country:
| The Netherlands |
Reason for service alert:
| Update 21 December: In order to reduce a further spread of the coronavirus, the Dutch government decided to close all non-essential shops. PostNL retail locations are allowed to stay open for post and parcels. The closure of non-essential shops is creating an extra challenge in these extremely busy times. PostNL is running at maximum capacity.
|
United States (US)
Date of alert:
| 18 of December 2020, ongoing |
Average delay:
| unknown |
Country:
| United States |
Reason for service alert:
| Update 18 december: Due to additional flight restrictions announced during the holidays, destination USA and Canada will face additional delays. On top of this, there is a delay in customs processing of an additional 2 days on average.
Update 01 december: Destination USA has been suffering delays since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. USPS has recovered their services quite significantly in the past month, but is now coping with substantial volume increases due to Peak season. This is causing delays – mainly on the west-coast and in the South transit times are deteriorating. We are in constant contact with USPS and improvement actions are taking place. Currently there are issues with flight capacity from Amsterdam toward the East Coast and Chicago area, we expect this to be resolved shortly. This means that some of the volumes may see some delay. Overall delays to the US can be expected during the coming Peak weeks, we will do our utmost to keep these delays to a minimum. Update 19 october: Due to the outbreak of Corona virus the US government has limited air travel between the US and the European Union. This impacts our ability to ship volumes to the United States. Currently (19-Oct) our routes remain open to all US destinations but unfortunately we still experience delays at all entry points. Not only issues with flights, but also the scanning and delivery in the US has been impacted due to Corona. Transit times are much longer on all services, and bag labels are not always scanned, resulting in missed tracking events and less visibility on the Packet flows. We also still see severe quality impact on destination USA. For parcels and EMS we experience transit times up to 15 days, for all other types of mail the transit times can take up untill 20 days in total. All of their operations work in a safe manner. Bag labels are not always scanned at arrival in the US, resulting in missed tracking events and cause lack of visibility, mainly on the Packet Untracked, Tracked and Registered flows. |
Thailand (TH)
Date of alert:
| 08 of December 2020, ongoing |
Average delay:
| 4 – 7 days |
Country:
| Thailand |
Reason for service alert:
| Thailand Post informs us that heavy rain in southern Thailand is causing floods in many provinces. As of 4 December 2020, road blockages are causing delays in the transportation and delivery of mails (letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items). The postcodes of the affected areas are as follows: 80xxx, 84xxx, 90xxx, 92xxx, 93xxx, 95xxx and 96xxx. |
Hong Kong (HK)
Date of alert:
| 08 of December 2020, ongoing |
Average delay:
| 4 – 7 days |
Country:
| Hong Kong |
Reason for service alert:
| Hongkong Post informs us that new restrictions have come in place in order to prevent further outbreak of Covid-19. This will result in delays in delivery for all types of mail. |
Malta (MT)
Date of alert:
| 04 of December 2020, ongoing |
Average delay:
| 7 – 14 days |
Country:
| Malta |
Reason for service alert:
| In order to minimise the impact of Covid-19 Malta Post is forced to adjust their operations in order to secure the health and safety of their employees. They informed us this will result in delays in delivery and will last till further notice. Due to general transport capacity scarcity regarding this destination, we expect an additional delay. |
Luxembourg (LU)
Date of alert:
| 04 of December 2020, ongoing |
Average delay:
| 4 – 7 days |
Country:
| Luxembourg |
Reason for service alert:
| In order to minimise the impact of Covid-19 Luxembourg Post is forced to adjust their operations in order to secure the health and safety of their employees. They informed us this will result in delays in delivery and will last till further notice. |
France (FR)
Date of alert:
| 7th of October 2020, ongoing |
Expected delay:
| unknown |
Country:
| France |
Reason for service alert:
| Update 19th of October: La poste has restored their operations back to six days delivery a week. Although we still measure delays in their processing, situation has improved. Update 7th of October: Heavy rainfalls caused flooding’s in the regions surrounding Nice and therefor disrupting transport to and from these areas and local infrastructure. This may lead to delays in delivery and collection of mail and parcels. Update 25th of September: La Poste has increased the number of collection days to 5 days. Delays are still applicable for delivery on (Express) mail volumes but will be less than before. Update 23th April: The local postal operator (La Poste) has reduced operating hours. Therefore we expect significant delays for deliveries of mail and packets in France. Parcels to France have normal operating hours, however our network partners all warn for delays due to an overloaded network. |
Belgium
Date:
| 18th of September 2020
|
Expected delay:
| Solved |
Country:
| Belgium |
Reason for service alert:
| Due to IT issues with our partners in Belgium, we see a deterioration in the number of delivery scans for BPost over the last 5 months. This does not mean that the packets and parcels are not delivered, they are just missing the delivery scan. Our postal partner is working towards a solution with the greatest urgency, while this is an issue for all postal partners sending to this destination. |
Austria
Date:
| 18th of September 2020
|
Expected delay:
| Solved |
Country:
| Austria |
Reason for service alert:
| Due to IT issues with our partners in Austria, we see a deterioration in the number of delivery scans for AT Post over the last 5 months. This does not mean that the packets and parcels are not delivered, they are just missing the delivery scan. Our postal partner is working towards a solution with the greatest urgency, while this is an issue for all postal partners sending to this destination. Please keep in mind that AT Post is not sharing tracking events for the registered service. |
Australia
Date:
| 18th of September 2020
|
Expected delay:
| Solved |
Country:
| Australia |
Reason for service alert:
| Direct transport to Melbourne area closed for letter mail and parcels due to COVID 19 Due to governmental restrictions taken in order to manage the impact of the Corona pandemic we are currently not allowed to deliver our letter mail and parcels volumes to Melbourne area. We will arrange transport to different entry points in the Sydney and Perth area. Mail and parcels destined for the area of Melbourne will therefor delay with several days. Please note the service EMS is still accepted in Melbourne. |
Brazil
Date:
| 29th of August 2020
|
Expected delay:
| Solved |
Country:
| Brazil |
Reason for service alert:
| As from the 18th of August the Brazilian postal operator Correios is at strike at several areas in the country. This is not a total work stoppage and Correios has activated their Business Continuity Plan with the objective of minimizing the impact on operations.The following areas are affected by the strike causing delays: - Amazonas, Bahia, Distrito Federa, Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Parana, Piaui, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo.Due to new customs regulations there were already delays in processing. |
Lebanon
Date:
| 6th of August 2020
|
Expected delay:
| Solved |
Country:
| Lebanon |
Reason for service alert:
| State of emergency in Lebanon due to massive explosion Beirut lead to suspension of postal services Due to the explosion in Beirut on the 4th of August the government declared a state of emergency. This means that postal operations at the office of exchange, distribution centres and post offices, as well as all support functions including customer services, have been suspended throughout Lebanon, until further notice. |
China
Date:
| 20th of July 2020
|
Expected delay:
| Solved |
Country:
| China |
Reason for service alert:
| China Post reports delays due to the flooding of the Yangtze river. The routes to China are open, but the flight capacity remain limited this causes delay on delivery of packages. Due to these extreme weather conditions, the collection, delivery and transportation of all inbound and outbound international mail products to and from Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Zhejiang and Guizhou provinces is subject to disruption, and the processing, transportation and delivery of inbound items to those provinces may be delayed. |
Japan (JP)
Date:
| 10th of July 2020
|
Expected delay:
| Solved |
Country:
| Japan
|
Reason for service alert:
| Japan is experiencing heavy rains and massive flooding. The postal network has been severely affected and some post offices have been closed. Some roads are also inaccessible to traffic, which is delaying the delivery of mail and parcels. The affected areas are in the following postcode ranges (as of 10 July 2020): Nagano: 3800000–3999999 Gifu: 5000000–5099999 Shizuoka: 4100000–4399999 Aichi: 4400000–4989999 Nara: 6300000–6399999 Kyoto: 6000000–6299999 Osaka: 53000000–5999999 Hyogo: 6500000–6799999 Wakayama: 6400000–6499999 Ehime: 7900000–7999999 Yamaguchi: 7400000–7599999 Fukuoka: 8000000–8399999, 8710000–8710999 Saga: 8400000–8499999 Kumamoto: 8600000–8699999 Oita: 8700000–8799999 Nagasaki: 8500000–8599999, 8115000–8115999, 8170000–8179999 Kagoshima: 8900000–8999999 |
Philippines (PHL)
Date:
| 10th of June 2020
|
Expected delay:
| Solved |
Country:
| Philippines |
Reason for service alert:
| The postal operator of destination Philippines has closed its international offices until the 18th of June due to Covid-19 measures. This means that all international services for mail and parcel delivery will be suspended during this time. |
Germany (DE)
Date:
| 27 of March 2020, ongoing
|
Expected delay:
| 4-7 days |
Country:
| Germany |
Reason for service alert:
| Update 27 March: Delivery is still possible in Germany, but tighter controls due to the coronavirus outbreak are resulting in delays. Germany is currently being serviced via our truck network. An adapted procedure for receipt signature via local postal service is in place for the Deutsche Post. Fewer collection points are available due to the mandatory closure of non-essential stores. |