Recent so many parcels (including EMS, Eyoubao, Chinese AIR, SAL, Singapore Airmail and even DHL and Fedex) have seriously delay due to Covid-2019. At the height of the epidemic, China’s outbound flights were only 1.2% of normal. Yes, you read that right, a 98% decrease at least. There is a large number of packages waiting in line to leave China at major airports.
To be honest, we can understand you totally for expecting of the parcels and we are anxious for the epidemic to pass quickly and hope you can receive the package soon. However, the current situation is beyond our control. In this blog, we will provide some information to help you understand the current situation and what we can do for you and what are out of our control, hopefully to help you.
The Covid-2019 first broke out in China at the end of January 2020, followed by a strict quarantine policy within our country. The domestic epidemic was under control at the end of February. But unfortunately, the virus spread rapidly in countries and regions outside China, such as South Korea, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, during the same period. Till now ( by the end of April) more than half of the world’s people lives and work are affected by the Covid-2019, with more than 3 million people diagnosed and 1 million in the United States, which is the most medically advanced country.
Specifically to 42agent’s agency business. As a result of the drastic reduction in international flights, the shipping price has been increased several times, such as EMS and DHL. And on the other hand, a large number of packages have been severely delayed. How serious is the delay? Usually EMS from Beijing to the US takes about 5-10 days, but now it generally takes 15-40 days or more.
You may have some questions when tracking packages:
1. Why my package has been in the transit for over a month and still no status update?
Over 60% of our packages are in this situation. As mentioned earlier, outbound flights were only 1.2% of normal at the height of the epidemic and had only recovered to less than 10% of normal at the end of April. Now we have to be patient.
2. Why is my package being returned repeatedly?
The piles of parcels at Beijing Airport Customs are so large that those that cannot fit will be returned to shipping companies or diverted to other airports in China. But other airports may not be able to store as many packages as well and may return them to Beijing again.
3. Why the package I sent in March has not been received yet, but the package I sent after April has been received first?
First of all, we’d like to say you are very lucky. Because the flight schedule is completely disrupted, there may be a backlog of packages that can’t get out, but instead the ones that are sent later are sent away first. In industry jargon, it is “first in, first out”. But that’s not typical, it just comes up occasionally.
4. I have 2 packages going out at the same time, why did 1 come in quickly and the other one is not progressing?
This is because packages from different freight companies are centralized when they arrive at the airport, so what appears to be 2 packages sent on the same day are sorted and scheduled for different flights at the airport. The lucky ones are sent off the same day and the unfortunate ones may be stranded at the airport for 1 month or longer. That said, both we humans and parcels are governed by randomness.
5. Why did my package arrive in my own country and never get delivered?
Because your country’s aviation and logistics industry has also been hit hard. On the other hand, because of the risks of going out, many people choose to shop online, and the severe shortage of staff to deliver courier, resulting in a local backlog. Since March and April, Amazon has probably recruited nearly 200,000 new staff in the United States to deliver packages, which can be seen the pressure on the logistics industry.
Below, there are some typical shipping records. Although some packages waited many days, the customer still received them in the end. A poet once wrote, “Among all things, there is hope. No matter how dire the current situation, we believe that one day our lives and work will return to normal.
You can see that the first 2 packages took a long time and delivered finally, the 3rd package is still on the way. We believe it can be delivered safety as well.
If you run into any problems, please leave us a message or send us an email and we will do our best to help you follow up on the package.