Mail and express companies, along with other freight operators serving cross-Channel routes, have been hit by the migrant crisis in Calais and intermittent industrial action by French ferry workers over the past month which has wreaked havoc on Eurotunnel and ferry company services.
Queues of lorries stretching for mile after mile on the M20 motorway to Dover and Folkestone have become a recurrent image on TV screens this summer. CEP-Research quizzed the main express operators on how their business is being affected by the disruption and whether any contingency plans have been implemented.
In a statement on the Calais crisis, Royal Mail said: “Some international letters and parcels have been experiencing delays in reaching their destinations to and from Europe, due to intermittent strike action on the continent and issues around border security at the Channel Tunnel.” It said the delays are predominantly impacting business traffic.
“We have robust contingency plans in place and our network is coping well so far and we have moved letter mail to flights for the time being. Our sister companies, Parcelforce Worldwide and GLS are also experiencing delays to goods sent to and from Europe. Locally, around the Kent area we are delivering as normal.”
DHL Express said it mainly uses the Channel Tunnel route for European day definite goods to/from the UK as well as a limited number of time-definite shipments, primarily to/from Northern France/Belgium. “We have been able to adjust our network and to re-route the time-definite shipments via our air network. We have been able to minimise delays and service impact for customers,” a spokesman said.
DHL is also employing contingencies for the day definite volumes “although this might sometimes mean using (other) ferry services, as air might not always be an option. There may be an impact, but for a very small number of shipments. Our core product is time definite international and day definite represents a small portion of our portfolio and the portion travelling on this particular trade lane (cross-Channel) is even smaller still”.
The spokesman added that DHL welcomed the additional measures (to tighten security at Eurotunnel's French terminal) taken by the authorities over the last few days “and we hope structural solutions will be put in place very soon.”
UPS confirmed that due to ongoing security issues in Calais, transport through the Channel Tunnel and port of Calais continues to be impacted causing significant delays and disruptions to the movement of goods in and out of the UK and France.
“As UPS uses the Eurotunnel, this situation has impacted UPS Standard packages to and from the UK and France. Customers of this service may therefore experience delays to their shipments as it is taking time to clear the backlog that has built up on both sides of the Channel,” a spokesman explained. He underlined that affected shipments are being assigned the exception scan "C5 Emergency" as their tracking status.
In the meantime, the company recommends that those customers requiring urgent deliveries use UPS Express or UPS Express Saver services. “UPS remains committed to ensuring the safe and timely delivery of the affected packages and is adjusting its plans to accommodate so that business can resume as normal.”
FedEx has also been impacted by delays. “FedEx Express anticipates service delays for some shipment deliveries from the UK to European countries and from European countries to the UK, as a result of the ongoing situation at Eurotunnel and the Port of Calais,” a spokesperson said. “We remain committed to customer service and have put operational contingency plans in place to minimise service delays when necessary.”
DPD and Hermes told CEP-Research that they weren’t affected by the cross-Channel traffic disruption.
