Large areas of north-eastern USA remain inaccessible to parcel and postal companies today due towidespread flooding and infrastructure damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.
Although the hurricane has now been downgraded to a “super-storm” and is said to be movingnorthwards beyond the main US population centres towards Canada, it has left a trail of hugedestruction across the eastern seaboard. The states of New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware,Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have been declared ‘disaster zones’, with large areasof these states currently out of bounds for deliveries and collections by parcel firms and postaloperator USPS.
Thousands of flights to and from airports in the US northeast have also been cancelled for asecond day, with major airports including New York JFK set to remain closed today. JFK is scheduledto reopen on Thursday, according to TNT Express.
UPS said severe weather, flooding, and power outages due to Hurricane Sandy were causing someunavoidable service delays in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey,New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington DC, and West Virginia. Afteryesterday suspending all deliveries and collections in Washington DC, Maryland and Delaware, UPShas resumed services to some postal codes in these three states. But deliveries and collectionsremain suspended to many ZIP codes within all of the above listed 12 states.
FedEx and USPS also listed dozens of cities in these states where their services had beentemporarily suspended. FedEx said that although contingency plans were in place, some servicedelays and disruptions could be anticipated in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and North Carolina.
A spokesman for UPS told CEP-Research: “Obviously, we’re digging out from the storm on the eastcoast, and bracing for ongoing severe weather inland, like everyone else. Our contingency plannersare determining where it’s feasible and safe to operate on the ground this morning. Our customersshould refer to UPS.com for service updates in their local areas, and they should rest assured we’ll get on the street as soon as possible.”
From an air perspective, he said the following gateways will be affected by the weather and mayhave flight cancellations or re-schedules: Albany, NY, Bradley, CT, Boston; Buffalo, Baltimore,Cleveland, Detroit, Newark NJ, Dulles, New York, Columbus OH, Harrisburg PA, Manchester NH, NorfolkVA, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence RI, Richmond VA, Roanoke VA, Newburgh NY, Syracuse NY,Hamilton ONT, and Toronto.
“We continue to leverage Worldport for diverted flights and to process customer volume inboundfrom Europe,” he added. “Our alternate operations experts and meteorologists are working around theclock to track the storm and to maintain or restore service wherever possible. We’ll know morelater on today.”
UPS yesterday took the decision to shut down the Monday night and Tuesday daytime air sort atits regional hub in Philadelphia (PHL), and said its European trunk routes into the east coastwould fly directly into its Worldport international air hub in Louisville. In addition to PHL, itdecided yesterday not to fly into or out of Baltimore, Dulles, Newark, New York and Harrisburg, PAbetween Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, moving the aircraft in those gateways instead toLouisville in order to position them for Tuesday operations.
FedEx said it was closely monitoring Hurricane Sandy, reiterating that its top priority was thesafety and well-being of our team members, as well as providing the highest level of service to ourcustomers, advising them continue to check fedex.com for updates.
A FedEx spokesman said: “To protect the safety of our team members, we have temporarily closedfacilities and stopped pickups and deliveries in some areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Fedex.comhas the latest operational information. FedEx is committed to resuming service to affected areas assafety allows. However, local disruptions may occur as authorities restrict access or downed powerlines, road closures and/or storm debris limit our access.”
A spokesman for DHL Express told CEP-Research that the situation remained much the same asyesterday. “Delivery and pick-up is suspended in the most heavily affected areas, principally inthe New York metropolitan area, and our flights into JFK were still delayed at the last check. We’re still currently anticipating that we’ll resume service tomorrow, but we’re monitoring thesituation closely. DHL Express’s flight schedule into its main Americas hub in Cincinnati isunderstood to have been unaffected.
