1. Carrier Updates
See DHL page for regular updates direct from the carrier.
2. How has the country been affected by Covid-19?
New Zealand is currently at Alert Level 1.
To find out more about Alert Levels, visit https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/
3. How has Covid-19 affected the industry?
The spread of the coronavirus is affecting the shipping industry in unprecedented ways. As all countries are taking measures to restrict the outbreak, the shipping industry has been majorly impacted.
For Sea Freight:
A large number of containers have been stuck in transshipment and the rise of 'Blank Sailings' by shipping lines has lead to a shortage of 'Empty Containers'. Trade restrictions across major ports of the world, to prevent the Coronavirus outbreak have lead to containers being stuck in Transshipment. This is affecting the profitability of shippers on a large scale, as it has lead to delay in delivery of necessary goods across the globe.
For Air Freight:
The massive delay in sea freight shipments has caused freight companies to increase delivery via air freight. However, due to very low passenger numbers globally there has been an unprecedented number of flight cancellations across the network.
For New Zealand, this is predominantly impacting NZ-HKG overnight traffic, however there are also cancellations on other sectors impacting shipments. In most cases shipments traveling to/via HKG will incur an extra day in transit. All efforts are being made to route material away from HKG where possible to minimise Transit Time (TT) Impact, and appropriate checkpoints are being applied to shipments to provide greater visibility.
4. With the ‘Social Distancing’ measures, what should we do when receiving / signing for deliveries?
All InXpress carrier partners have now implemented the change to support "social distancing" and minimise to risk to our customers and staff.
Effective immediately, drivers will no longer be required to ask for signatures and will instead ask for and record the surname of the customer and record their signatures as "COV" or “CV”.
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DHL provided the following update on 23 March 2020
THE SAFETY OF OUR CUSTOMERS: Non-Contact Deliveries
To assist our customers who do not wish to sign on scanners or on paper due to social distancing, beginning Monday March 23rd, we will temporarily enable the Signature Release option for all business-to-consumer (B2C) shipments on our On Demand Delivery platform. Receivers whose shippers already permit Signature Release will continue to receive the same delivery experience they’ve always had.
Please note the following important rules we always follow for Signature Release:
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Shipments keep the signature requirement, unless the receiver authorizes release using On Demand Delivery
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DHL stores an electronic record of the release authorization, including name, date and time
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Signature Release does not mean DHL will “just leave it.” The receiver must authorize the release using On Demand Delivery. If there is no release authorization, we will always attempt to get a signature.
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In cases where the receiver does not choose Signature Release prior to delivery, but still does not want to sign on the scanner, our couriers will temporarily offer a non-contact alternative.
5. What precautions is InXpress taking with their staff regarding COVID-19?
At present, InXpress is “Business As Usual” but we continue to monitor the situation on a daily and hourly basis. To date, the following protocols have been implemented:
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No international travel is to be undertaken
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All company conferences have been delayed or cancelled
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Any employees who have previously travelled outside of New Zealand, or been in contact with a person suspected to have coronavirus must self-quarantine for 14 days
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Where employees (or their family members they have immediate contact with) have symptoms they will not be joining us in the office, they will follow instructions to be tested and until cleared to return physically to work, will remain at home
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We are introducing additional hygiene measures within the office including provision of hand sanitiser and an enhanced working space cleaning policy for all staff and visitors
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We are advising staff to avoid meetings face-to-face where possible and to instead utilise skype/other video or audio for meetings
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We have developed a ‘Work From Home’ Emergency Contingency Plan that will be implemented in the event that it deemed necessary.
Please note that all our usual admin capabilities (e.g. phone, email, proposal and costing generation, invoicing etc) will remain fully operational, even as we revert to remote working ourselves.
6. Are there any updates from other Carrier?
DHL have provided a statement regarding COVID-19:
https://www.logistics.dhl/content/dam/dhl/global/dhl-global-forwarding/documents/pdf/glo-dgf-statement-corona-virus.pdf
https://www.simplydhl.com/covid-19updates
Toll is providing regular updates at:
https://www.tollgroup.com/news-and-media/news/toll-groups-response-covid-19
TNT is providing regular updates at:
https://www.tnt.com/express/en_au/site/alerts.html
FedEx has provided the following document for download:
https://www.fedex.com/content/dam/fedex/apac-asia-pacific/downloads/fedex-covid-service-update-en-au.pdf
For UPS, the link is:
https://www.ups.com/nz/en/service-alerts.page?id=alert1
7. Other useful Links related to COVID-19
For further information and regular updates, please refer to the Ministry of Health NZ:
https://www.health.govt.nz/
The official NZ Govt COVID-19 site is:
https://covid19.govt.nz/
For World Health Organisation updates, visit:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen