Snow and ice on roads have continued to disrupt transportation services in Germany with trafficjams and light accidents leading to partial delivery delays while flight operations at several
European airports have resumed with only some cancellations.Hermes Germany spokeswoman Claudia Schanz told CEP-Research that the company experiencedoccasional supply disruptions in long-distance traffic and delayed departures from the depots. “Dueto the road conditions, drivers need more time for the same parcel volumes,” she said.
Delivery problems are mostly occurring in regions with stronger snowfall while in the north 1-2cm of snow are already enough to aggravate the traffic situation, she explained. “In areas wheresnows remains longer, it can take 1-2 days longer for customers to receive their parcels, dependingon the road conditions.”
“Once the roads are cleared, we will get rid of the delivery backlogs immediately – throughadditional delivery tours, if necessary. Otherwise, more parcels will be added for delivery duringthe existing tours. However, these parcel volume fluctuations are something we are adjusting verywell to in the course of the year, especially due to the Christmas business.”
Deutsche Post DHL which is well adjusted for cold weather conditions, experienced only minorsupply chain disruptions with some delivery delays in individual regions. “Since yesterday, thesituation hasn’t worsened considerably and the weather conditions are due to stabilise fromtomorrow onwards,” Deutsche Post DHL spokeswoman Dunja Kuhlmann told CEP-Research.
DPD Germany spokesman Frank Vergien told CEP-Research: “Due to tense weather conditions, delaysin parcel delivery can currently occur nationwide all over Germany. At an international level, weare currently experiencing no weather-related disruptions.”
GLS CEO Rico Back told CEP-Research that major disruptions in Germany occurred in the areasaround Berlin and Hamburg as well as in some towns that couldn’t be reached because of difficultweather conditions. “In these regions, the delivery times have been extended by about one day.”
“Overall, we have registered only minimal impact on our network due to yesterday’s roadconditions. Most of the parcel flows have arrived as scheduled with the drivers delivering andpicking up the majority of the packages on time,” he stated.
In Austria, the country’s postal operator has been able to deliver most of its mail and parcelvolumes in reasonable time. Austrian Post spokesman Michael Homola told CEP-Research: “In smallerregions, deliveries can be delayed by 2-3 hours with snow falling a lot especially in EasternAustria. However, we haven’t experienced any major delivery disruptions.”
While the postal operator has been using snow chains as usual, no additional measures such ashiring more staff or deploying more vehicles have been taken, Homola added.
In terms of air operations, the European airports are starting to get back to normal with onlyfew flight cancellations. Frankfurt Airport has informed its customers today about possible adverseeffects on flight operations and flight cancellations due to current weather conditions.
Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport is fully operational although there may be some flight disruptions.In Paris, many flights have been cancelled at Charles de Gaulle Airport over the last days withoperations progressively improving now.
