UK express and parcel delivery companies are gearing up for this summer’s London 2012 Olympics andParalympic Games, with contingency plans, additional staff and also special “Olympic surcharges” in
some areas of the British capital.Firms told CEP-Research they are investing significant sums of money in researching andsimulating the expected conditions and introducing contingency measures such as additional depotsand staff. A number of companies, including Parcelforce and DPD, are introducing surcharges forparcels delivered to certain London postcode areas during the main competition periods, in order topay for the necessary additional resources needed.
DPD said it had invested £1.3 million (€1.63 million) to ensure that service levels aremaintained “to the best of our abilities” in and around the impacted areas, including opening anadditional facility near its London Bridge depot, adding early-morning and late-evening deliveriesand collections, and providing drivers with assistants who will make the final delivery on foot,where necessary.
The company said that it could not absorb all of this cost and confirmed that it hadintroduced an Olympic surcharge of £1.95 (€2.44) for each consignment “delivered into thosepostcode areas where there is extended disruption within the Olympic congestion zone”. It said ithad done everything to keep this charge to a minimum, and urged customers to consider whether theycould avoid any disruptions by arranging earlier deliveries, using alternative delivery addresses,or arranging for the recipient to collect parcels from DPD depots. It said the period of likelydisruption to services was mid-June to mid-September.
“We have a detailed plan to ensure that our deliveries and collections are successfulthroughout this period. However, please note that we will be unable to access certain ‘lockdownvenues’, since they will be closed to all general traffic,” the company said.
A ‘lockdown venue’ is one of the 49 secure Olympic sites in London and elsewhere in the UKwhere, for security reasons, normal access is strictly controlled; they include everything from themain Olympic stadium to hotels used by officials. Access for parcel deliveries to these venues hasbeen exclusively granted to the official logistics supplier, UPS, with all parcels delivered by UPSinto these sites subject to a £25 (€31) delivery surcharge per parcel, £20 of which is a fixedsecurity surcharge and £5 of which is a parcel delivery charge.
DHL Express is also making use of ‘on-foot’ couriers, teaming up during the period of theGames with innovative delivery firm JogPost, which employs fitness enthusiasts to use a combinationof public transport and running to deliver packages. As well as delivering shipments direct fromDHL Service Centres in London, the JogPost couriers will also team up with driving couriers for thefinal mile of shipments in congested areas or in those areas vehicles cannot access during thesummer.
“Having on-foot deliveries is the swiftest and most efficient way to ensure that businessesare getting deliveries on time as it eliminates the problem of disruption from traffic, which isestimated to increase on London’s core routes by more than 30 per cent,” the company said.
Phil Couchman, CEO of DHL Express UK and Ireland, commented: “The prospect of majordisruption in the capital this summer is a concern for many companies. Some businesses are alreadybuying storage in the city in preparation for this busy time; at DHL we are developing solutions,such as the use of jogging couriers, that will negate the need for that additional expense. Ourcustomers expect their critical deliveries to arrive on time regardless of what’s happening inLondon. By using innovative delivery methods we are able to sustain our high service levels duringwhat will be a busy time for businesses, and also reduce our carbon footprint by sending fewervehicles into the city.”
Like several other major delivery companies, DHL said it would have a dedicated OperationsControl Centre working around the clock throughout the Games that would constantly monitor issuessuch as changes to the network and localised congestion.
Contingency plans by UK Mail have included registering all vehicles with the police forinstant checks, and successfully running business continuity tests for its Docklands and Sloughdepots. Further tests will take place before the Games start at its Docklands and Greenford sites,with its other depots around the country not expected to be significantly impacted. It has alsosecured access to an additional facility in London and been investigating potential collaborationswith bicycle and motorcycle couriers. The company said it was confident that its next-day servicewould be able to continue to all postcodes, except E20, during London 2012.
“Information is still being received and this is very much a changing picture which willbecome more reactive as the games commence,” the company said. “UK Mail is confident of our serviceperformance based on our consistent track record during peak times and thorough planning processes.Our premium and timed services will take priority but will not carry a service guarantee for thislimited period,” the company added. But it cautioned that there would be events outside of itscontrol that “may result in areas being inaccessible for a period of time and in thesecircumstances best endeavours will be made to resolve any delivery delays”.
Parcelforce Worldwide said it was writing to all account customers to inform them of themeasures that were being taken to minimise the impact of the Games on deliveries and collections toa number of postcodes across London. “This includes the investment of more than £1 million, where260 additional staff will be employed for the period, and 140 extra hire vehicles will be used tokeep packages on the move,” the company said. “As part of these measures, Parcelforce Worldwide,like other delivery companies, will be making a small extra charge for delivery to the affectedpostcodes.”
As the Official Logistics and Express Delivery Supporter of the London 2012 Olympic andParalympic Games, UPS said it had “been working closely alongside LOCOG and TfL to ensurepreparations are in place to cope with the impact of the London 2012 Games on our route network”.The company added: “We have created a dedicated business continuity team to plan accordingly byimpacted postcode to ensure that our service is maintained. The impact will vary by postcode and wewill be allocating the appropriate amount of resources to ensure our business continuity solutionswill mitigate any London 2012 service impacts.”
UPS said it would not be adding any ‘Olympic surcharges’ to its day-to-day operations duringthe Olympic or Paralympic periods. “Our London 2012 business continuity team has analysedpotentially impacted areas road by road and turn by turn to make sure we have the appropriateresources to support our operations,” the company added. “We have been training our deliverypersonnel on temporary traffic restrictions, testing alternative delivery methods, introducingtechnology enhancements and working with customers to implement optimum planning schedules.”
As well as the Central London Zone and Olympic Route Network (ORN), UPS stressed that thereare other locations across the country that will be affected by the London 2012 Games as well, suchas Weymouth and Portland harbours – to be used for sailing events.
FedEx acknowledged that there would be an impact on its existing routes, “which may mean wewill need to be flexible in our delivery and collection commitments, but we are doing all we can tokeep ‘business as usual’ during this exciting time”. The company said it had also been workingclosely with customers to understand their logistics needs during this period so that it caninclude this information in its network planning.
“We have increased our operational capacity, increased the number of couriers and re-designedtheir route to maintain existing services and are giving customers increased options to ‘hold atlocations’ or to deliver to alternative addresses,” FedEx told CEP-Research. “We are alsointroducing motorbikes to expedite urgent deliveries, providing drivers with ‘runners’ to makedeliveries where parking restrictions are in place, and will be using foot couriers for smallparcel deliveries in central London.” But FedEx said it would not be introducing a surcharge duringthis period.
Royal Mail said its Olympic planning team had been working since June 2011 on a series ofmeasures to minimise the impact of the Games and believes it has “secured sufficient access to beable to deliver, collect, sort and transport mail during the Games”.
A Royal Mail spokesman added: “We will start deliveries earlier in the morning, so we canreach everyone, as it is likely to take us longer to travel around some areas. Because of this,some mail may be held in our system for delivery the next working day in the impacted postcodes E,EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W and WC. Households and businesses in the impacted postcode areas are advised,if possible, to post their mail earlier in the day than usual. Customers posting mail to thesepostcodes are advised, if possible, to post a day earlier.”
