Carriers hope to wrap up parcels backlog
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PARCEL CARRIERS say they are working to overcome a twoweek backlog in the supply chain. caused by bad weather and delivery demand, ahead of the sector's busiest fortnight of the year.
Operators arc recruiting extra staff, taking on new vehicles and offering alternative delivery slots in a bid to return to normal operating conditions after had weather kept vehicles off the road while volumes ramped up for Christmas.
Simon Duggan, director at Crawley-based parcel and pallet specialist Eezehaul, says its operations are finally returning to normal following delays to its regular services.
"We normally move some 2,000 parcels and 200 to 300 pallets a day. When the worst of the snow hit we could not get vehicles out for two days; that's 4,000 parcels and 600 pallets we were unable to deliver. Last Sunday was the first day we have not worked since [the beginning of December]."
Duggan says the big issue has been controlling costs. "You have
fixed costs, even if the vehicles are not moving and you have to pay staff to come in on a Saturday. Thankfully, many of our staff volunteered to work weekends to help clear the backlogs."
Jon Tobbell, commercial director at Hermes, says it experienced significant delivery issues and had been forced to use temporary parcel pickup points for the first time across Scotland and the north-east of England.
"[Hermes has been] providing additional cover in areas where couriers are having difficulties meeting delivery demand and several clients have passed on their thanks to couriers who have volun tarily chosen to deliver on Sundays to meet their customer demands."
Tobbell expects that, weather permitting, Hermes' delivery network in Scotland will be back on track within the next week. Conditions are back to normal across the rest of the UK.
Meanwhile, Royal Mail Group says it has recruited an additional 500 lorry drivers and 250 HGVs as part of a £20m plan to tackle backlogs created by snowy conditions.
In addition to Royal Mail's normal expansion programme at Christmas, which sees it recruit a total of 20,000 additional staff and extend opening hours at depots, 3.000 more staff are currently being recruited and seven extra operational centres are opening temporarily on top of the 24 already in use.
Mark Higson, Royal Mail MD, says: "The worst December weather the UK has seen in almost 30 years has had an impact on our services. With this additional £20m investment, we are committed to ensure we deliver goods as quickly as possible."
A spokesman for Yodel says the firm has now cleared "a significant amount of the backlogs it had by using more vehicles and staff':
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