Royal Mail has announced details of its operational planning, with more planes, trains and trucks,to cope with the seasonal peak in mail and parcel volumes in the run-up to Christmas.
The UK postal operator said it will use around 38,000 trucks and vans to collect anddistribute the Christmas mailbag of around two billion items. This is almost 5,000 more vehiclesthan the normal year round fleet of 33,000 vehicles.
A total of 64 flights will transport the mail between England, Scotland and Northern Irelandeach day. An additional nine flights each day are being laid on in the run-up to Christmas inaddition to the 55 flights Royal Mail uses during the year.
Moreover, double the normal number of rail services will be used each day this Christmas.Four services run each day as part of the normal year-round operation: two between London andScotland and two between Warrington and Scotland. Over Christmas, eight rail services will runbetween London and Scotland, calling at Warrington.
Royal Mail already announced that it is investing an additional £15 million in this year’sChristmas operation, including opening a dedicated nationwide packet network of nine packet hubs tocope with an expected surge in parcels generated by online shopping.
Around 18,000 temporary workers are also being recruited to help sort the increase in cards,letters and packets. The seasonal positions will support Royal Mail’s permanent 130,000 postmen andwomen who sort and deliver the mail all year round, including Christmas which is the busiest timeof the year for the postal service.
This Christmas, Royal Mail expects to handle a total festive mailbag of around two billionitems. On the busiest days in the run-up to Christmas, Royal Mail expects to handle up to 130million items – around double the normal average daily mailbag of 62 million items.
Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s Managing Director of Operations and Modernisation, said: “We areusing extra planes, trains and trucks to help transport the Christmas mailbag of around two billionitems to all corners of the UK. These additional services will help us transport and deliver theChristmas mailbag to every community across the UK including homes in the remotest locations.”
He added: “As we do every year, we encourage people to post early and order presents early tohelp us spread the workload of handling around two billion items in the run up to Christmas.”
