ParcelHero: “Further chance of severe postal disruption in Australia”
Deliveries to many areas of Australia were severely impacted by the catastrophic bush fires it experienced in December and January; and there is likely to be further disruption to come, warns the UK-based parcel comparison site ParcelHero, which specialises in Australian parcel delivery.
ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT says: “Parcel and letter deliveries have been severely disrupted across many areas of Australia, particularly New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and West Australia. Despite significant storms over the weekend, over 80 fires are still blazing across New South Wales and Victoria, Naturally, there has been significant disruption to Australia’s transport infrastructure caused by these fires, and Australia’s national postal service, Australia Post, was impacted in many regions.”
David says: “On Monday (20 January) Australia Post said it was working to reinstate deliveries in areas impacted by bush fires and smoke haze. It’s still reporting some ongoing delays “due to ongoing safety concerns and will only deliver into these areas when it is safe to do so.”
David explains: “Parcels to Australia mailed from your Post Office will continue to be impacted by any ongoing Australia Post problems on the ground. The latest news is that “The situation is also affecting mail flows into, and out of Australia due to issues transporting mail to and from affected areas.” However, outside the traditional postal network, international couriers are largely reporting that, due to the locations of their sites in metropolitan areas, thankfully the majority of employees and services have largely escaped any major impact.”
David adds: “ParcelHero’s constantly updated Australia parcel delivery guide is not currently showing any significant delays to international courier deliveries to Australia from the UK, but we advise senders to regularly check this page if new fires do start to appear.” And David says anyone planning to ship time-critical parcels to Australia needs to be aware the threat is not over. “The peak fire season is still to come for parts of southern Australia. February is being described as extremely dangerous by local experts.”
‘This has been a national tragedy for Australia, and across the world people are sending their sympathy and support. Every courier and postal service has rightly prioritised the safety of their staff and will, of course, continue to do so in the future,” David concludes.
