FedEx and UPS were among the first airlines to fly into Newark Liberty International Airportthis morning when it reopened for limited operations at 07.00, after ‘Hurricane Sandy’ and ‘
Super-storm Sandy’ had forced its closure for the previous two days. The FedEx aircraft isunderstood to have been the first into Newark, touching down at 07:12, while UPS has flown twoaircraft into Newark this morning, local time.New York’s JFK Airport also opened for limited operations at 07.00, following two days ofclosure, although both airports are reported to be operating at well below their normalcapacity.
FedEx said it was working to resume normal operations in the Mid-Atlantic and northeast UnitedStates, following Hurricane Sandy. But while contingency plans were in place, it said some servicedelays and disruptions could be expected in the affected states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine,Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont,Virginia, Washington DC and West Virginia.
The company said safety remained a top priority, and that customers should expect delays inareas that are inaccessible due to local restrictions; airport, road or transit closures; flooding;downed power lines; and storm debris.
A FedEx spokesman told CEP-Research: “Our teams are working hard to get shipments delivered andget into all areas that we have access to. Our biggest issue today will be storm debris and poweroutages. We apologise for any inconvenience and we ask for our customers’ patience as we work toresume operations.”
UPS said it had resumed package and freight operations in all but a few of the most-affecteddelivery centres in parts of New Jersey, Staten Island, NY and some mountainous areas in WestVirginia and northwest Pennsylvania. “Deliveries will be made in all accessible areas,” the companysaid, although some activities would be restricted. “With power out in many areas, we’ll havecurfews for our drivers to return to buildings before dark,” a spokeswoman told toldCEP-Research.
UPS said it operated flights into all the affected airports last night, except Newark and JFK.In addition to the two UPS aircraft that have already arrived at the Newark airport after it openedthis morning, it also has scheduled flights later today to JFK.
However, UPS said it was continuing to direct its inbound flights from Europe to the UPSWorldport in Louisville for processing there.
The spokeswoman added: “Special operating plans are in place for air express packages,hospitals, financial institutions and business payroll packages. Our UPS supply chain contractlogistics unit continues to provide emergency parts and healthcare logistics services from fieldstocking locations, and air and ocean freight forwarding bookings continue as ports have reopenedand airports have reopened.
UPS said power supply has been the greatest impact to UPS buildings, “but we’ve been preparedwith generators”. There was also some limited water damage in some facilities.
“Our employees have been communicating with local management teams to keep posted aboutdifficulties for access in getting to work or if they have personal family and property needs,” thecompany said. “With mass transit closures in Manhattan, there was limited absenteeism for our sortand preload operations.”
UPS also said it was grateful for the disaster preparedness of its staff to provide service withlimited operations “and quick mobilisation to restart full package, freight and logisticsoperations to support recovery in affected communities. UPS will work with our disasterlogistics partners to assess their priority of need for community service response.”
DHL Express told CEP-Research that it would resume its intercontinental flights to the US eastcoast tomorrow morning, with the first European flights expected to arrive at 06.00 local time. Itsaid it was resuming pick-ups and deliveries to all accessible areas, although it said parts ofLower Manhattan remained inaccessible at the current time.
UPS said relief assistance were also of vital importance now. “UPS has been engaged with partnerdisaster relief organisations to address their priorities for assistance,” said a spokeswoman. “Wewant to help the many thousands of people impacted, but we know through disaster logisticsexperience that monetary donations to relief organisations are the best action. These respondersare trained to prioritise needs and support local communities, and the funds are used for immediateneeds as well as long-term recovery efforts.”
