Hurricane Irene disrupts delivery services on US East Coast

Parcel, express and mail operators were getting back to business today after heavy deliverydelays and flight cancellations at the weekend as Hurricane Irene swept up the US East Coast,

UPS, FedEx, USPS and other companies were forced to suspend operations over the last few days invarious coastal regions, close numerous facilities and move planes away from airports that shutdown. Thousands of passenger and cargo flights at East Coast airports had to be cancelled as theairports shut down before the hurricane arrived. 

UPS spokesman Norman Black told CEP-Research: “Airlines are operating normally. Aircraft thatwere repositioned will be moved back to their correct locations during the day today. There areonly localised impacts now, where there’s flooding or streets are closed.”

In its latest service update today, UPS said: “Service delays along the East Coast of the UnitedStates can be expected due to infrastructural damage caused by Hurricane Irene. UPS is committed tomaking every effort to provide service to all areas where conditions permit safe access. We areclosely monitoring local areas to ensure service resumes as soon as conditions permit.”

At the weekend, UPS moved various planes away from East Coast airports to protect them. Inaddition, as of Sunday evening, no pickups or deliveries had been made to selected ZIP codes inDelaware, New Jersey, North and South Carolina and Virginia.

Similarly, FedEx also moved planes out of the hurricane’s range as part of contingency plans toensure the safety of its team members and lessen the storm’s impact on operations and service. Itclosed about 160 facilities from North Carolina to Maine on Sunday, including 33 locations in NewYork City alone.

“The focus will be on assessing facilities in areas already impacted by the storm. The fullextent of the storm’s impact on operations on Monday will depend upon what areas may beinaccessible because of possible storm damage. Widespread power outages, significant road floodingand downed trees are expected to result in some service delays as operations resume. However, wewant our customers to know that we are prepared to provide service to the best of our ability,” thecompany said in a statement yesterday (Sunday).

FedEx spokesman Scott Fiedler told Bloomberg news agency that the company is preparing to moveaircraft back to airports that were in the hurricane’s path as soon as the airports open and canget employees in position to handle the planes and packages. According to his estimates, FedEx hadmore than 10,000 employees in the Irene storm zone.

USPS facilities were impacted in various parts of the affected coastal regions. The organsationsaid that 83 postal facilities in Virginia had no electricity while 32 postal facilities in NorthCarolina were inaccessible. Deliveries to various parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey were alsoaffected.

DHL Global Mail USA said it is closely monitoring the conditions surrounding Hurricane Irene. “Preparations are currently taking place to ensure the security of DHL Global Mail facilities andsafety of our employees in the areas forecasted for inclement weather. As air and ground delays areexpected, contingency plans are in place to minimise the storm’s effect on service. We willcontinue to monitor the situation and provide updates as they develop.”

In addition, numerous airports in the East Coast were impacted by the storm including WashingtonDulles, Washington Reagan National, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Newark and New York JFK but weredue to re-open today. According to flight-tracking services, more than 9,000 flights had beencancelled by Sunday.

Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), reportedly saidthat operations resumed as soon as the airports determined that the runways and associatedequipment and facilities were not damaged. “We do not yet have an assessment of the length of timeeach airport suspended operations, nor do we have the number and duration of the flight delays ordiversions,” she added.

According to the service update from yesterday, Dulles International and Reagan Nationalairports are open with no major damage from the storm. Flights resumed operations at both airportstoday with cancellations expected, especially to destinations in the New York area and otherNortheastern U.S. cities. US Airways, in particular, cancelled all flights to/from Reagan Nationalairport. Flights at Dulles International Airport also resumed operations with some cancellationsand delays.