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Shipping Incident bulletin 20th March 2020
Direct Link Incident Bulletins are sent weekly with information about situations that affect postal distribution world wide. Direct Link Incident Bulletins are published here by permission from Direct Link. Thanks to Direct Link for this valuable service.
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This week’s bulletin contains updates about: COVID-19 & technical problems.
Mail suspension due to coronavirus
Owing to a lack of transport capacity, below countries are not able to accept or send mail until further notice. This applies to letter-post, parcel post and EMS items (unless stated otherwise).
Kuwait – from 12th March
Malaysia – from 13th March – to Korea
Honduras – from 15th March
Poland – from 15th March to all countries with exception of some European destinations: Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States of America.
Sweden – from 16th March – to countries outside the European Union, except Australia, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Iceland, Japan, Korea (Rep.), Liechtenstein, Norway, Russian Federation, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Arab Emirates.
Korea
- from 9th March – to Japan with exception: Osaka, Tokyo are acceptable by EMS only.
- from 13th March – to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
- from 16th March – to Ukraine, Poland, Cambodia
- from 17th March – to Albania, Belarus, Cuba, Estonia, Slovakia and Sweden
- from 18 March – to Azerbaijan, Canada (EMS items only still accepted), Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Peru, Switzerland, Tunisia;
- from 19 March – to Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Ghana, Maldives, Mozambique, Oman, Pakistan, Romania, Rwanda and Tanzania (United Rep.).
Norway– from 16th March – to all countries outside the European Union except: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea (Rep.), Liechtenstein, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
Sri Lanka – from 16th March
Peru – from 16th to 30th March 2020
USA, Suriname, Aruba, Ukraine, Moldova, Libya – from 16th March
Brazil – from 16th March (applies only for Parcel post)
Denmark – from 16th March to countries outside the European Union, except Australia, Canada, Iceland, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Korea (Rep.), Liechtenstein, Norway, Russian Federation, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States of America.
Slovenia – from 17th March (applies only for EMS items)
Latvia – from 17th March –Â Latvijas Pasts has extended the period during which postal items will be stored at post offices from 30 to 60 days. Storage for up to 60 days will be free of charge.
Panama – from 17th March – to Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, certain Latin American countries (Argentina, Aruba, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, Bolivarian Rep.).
Chile – from 17th March –Â to all countries except Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay;Â International inbound mail addressed to Easter Island will no longer be accepted
Djibouti, Tunisia – from 18th March
Finland – from 18th March to Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta, Slovakia and Spain, Australia, Canada, China (People’s Rep.), Israel, Japan, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Russia, United Kingdom and United States of America.
Myanmar – from 18th to 30th March – only outbound mail services are suspended
Bulgaria – from 18th March (applies only for EMS items)
French Polynesia – from 18th to 31st March 2020
Lebanon – from 18th to 29th March
Maldives – from 19th to 28th March
Cayman Islands – from 20th March to 12th April
Costa Rica – from 20th March – unable to send outbound mail
Greece – from 20th March – to Europe (EU and Non-EU countries), except Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Serbia and, Slovenia. Argentina Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, S. Africa, S. Korea, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United States of America and Venezuela.
Cyprus – from 21st March –Â all outgoing dispatches suspended.
Countries under quarantine
In order to minimise human contact and protect its workers, the designated operators of below listed countries consider it necessary to significantly reduce its workforce across private and public sectors as well as the logistics chain (from labelling to delivery). As a result, correspondence of all kinds will not benefit from the usual rapidity of service, and the postal operators requests that they be exempt from the UPU’s delivery time and quality measurement requirements.
Naturally, access to post offices is also subject to restrictions and special conditions as part of the preventive measures and for the protection of both staff and customers.
Philippines – from 13 March to 12 April
Suriname – from 14th
France – from 14th to 31st March
Spain – 14th to 30th March
Honduras – from 15th March
Serbia – from 15th March
Georgia – from 16th March
El Salvador – from 16th March to 1st April
Austria – from 16th March to 14th April
Romania – from 16th March to 16th April
Morocco – from 17th March
Jamaica – from 18th
Turkey, Ecuador, Armenia, Switzerland – from 19th March
North Macedonia – 19th March to 19th April
Mauritius – 20th March to 2nd April
Cyprus – from 21st March
Change in delivery procedure
The designated operators of below listed countries would like to inform that in order to avoid human contact all letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items requiring signature on delivery will, for security reasons, provisionally be delivered to customers indirectly. Consequently, it will not be mandatory for Post operators to collect and provide written proof of delivery (POD).
From 13th March
Germany
From 16th March
Australia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Slovenia, Georgia.
Portugal
Netherlands
Estonia
New Zealand
Malaysia
From 17th March
Luxembourg
Malta
Israel
Liechtenstein
Morocco
From 18th March
Ireland
Singapore
From 19th March
Croatia
Armenia
From 20th March
Mauritius
Belgium
New Caledonia
Austria
Resumption of sending/processing of mail
The designated operators of below listed countries would like to inform that mail exchanges have been resumed due to COVID-19 (applies to letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items). However the processing of mail remains subject to disruption.
Malta – from 16th March
Hong Kong, China – from 18th March
Technical problems
Korea
Start date: 2nd March
End date: 16th March
The designated operator of Korea (Rep.), Korea Post, informs that the sending of EDI messages is back to normal.