Service updates

Tuesday afternoon the 23rd of November, the Dutch government decided to make the safety distance of 1.5 meters an obligation, not an urgent recommendation anymore. This is with the aim to reduce the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 infections. Read more here about this measure.

As a result, we have received notification that carriers are adjusting their processes immediately according to the regulations. Besides our carriers, our VNL warehouse is also implementing these regulations to keep everyone safe. In addition, our warehouse staff has decided to make face masks and other hygiene measures internally compulsory.

These stricter measures may cause a delay in the work processes. An exact delay is difficult to determine at this time, but we estimate a delay of 3-4 working days.

We therefore advise you to take delivery promises to your customers and sales platforms into account.

The long-expected busy season has started!

There have been reports of long delays with deliveries into the Republic of Ireland.

It appears that deliveries are taking up to 9 working days, and sometimes beyond this.
From what we understand there is a backlog of packages being processed through Irish customs due to issues caused by Brexit and the introduction of IOSS. The carriers have confirmed they have taken this up with the appropriate authorities at the highest level in the EU and Ireland and it is hoped this will be resolved soon.

We ask you to take this into account in your delivery promises to your customers and sales channels. We and our carriers will do everything we can to deliver your shipments without delays.

As you might have heard in the news, heavy downpours have caused flooding in the Limburg area in the Netherlands, but also in parts of Belgium and Germany. Due to these weather conditions, there may be delays in the delivery times of your shipments. 

We ask you to take this into account in your delivery promises to your customers and sales channels. We and our carriers will do everything we can to deliver your shipments without delays.

The major 2021 VAT change is now operational and needs attention from e-commerce merchants selling cross-border. The idea behind the changes is to answer to the rise of B2C online selling and make the playground fairer for all. By introducing the OSS and IOSS schemes VAT compliance in the EU is easier than ever.

Make sure you are up to speed on the new rules and check out our short introduction on the schemes on our website to know what you as a merchant need to take into consideration. For further information visit European Commission's site.

Please make sure to fill out your details in myOGO if needed.

The Netherlands is undergoing a full lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the warehouse level, this means that personal has been reduced to comply with the government orders. The government rules people to keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters away from each other. For warehousing activities, this means a completely new working schedule. Even with the best intentions to maintain a normal service level, this is currently impossible since fewer people are allowed to work inside the warehouse premises.

As an example, only one person is allowed to perform inbounding at the loading dock. This means that unloading cargo is much slower than normal.

With the warehouse doing what they can to stay operational, and the current strive is that orders dispatch 72 hours after the order has been received. Even here, we will, unfortunately, need to expect unexpected delays and can therefore not promise that orders dispatch within this time.

Our parcel carriers still report daily an increase in the number of parcels. Because of this, there is a delay in the delivery of your parcels. We ask you to take into account delivery promises to your customers and the sales platforms.

The Netherlands have after official decisions by the government, continued lock-down until at least the 9th of February.  Our warehouse is up and running but with continued restrictions as communicated earlier. 

For more information regarding the situation in The Netherlands visit the official page of the dutch goverment.   

https://www.government.nl/latest/news/

As of today, GLS has stopped their UK shipments and are bringing back parcels and pallets that are out for delivery. In our case the warehouses in Finland, Estonia and The Netherlands is directly effected by this but also our Swedish warehouses might be effected in the nearest future.

We are closely monitoring how the other carriers are proceeding, and will keep you informed. At this point deliveries are still possible via DHL Express, so if needed, change carrier.

Venlo warehouse opening hours during Christmas

• December 24th: open until 12.30 pm,
  Parcels will be delivered with a delay.
• December 25th: closed
• December 26th: closed
• December 31st: opened until 12.30 pm,
  Parcels will be delivered with a delay.
• January 1st: closed
  
  For the other days, our regular opening hours apply.

DHL Express deadlines for Christmas deliveries

DHL Express is reliable during the holidays.
1-2 day delivery promise is kept with over 99% accuracy,

If the parcel is shipped from our warehouse on Monday the 21st of December, it will reach destination on time.

But to be safe, we recommend 1-2 day extra, so the week before to be on the safe side.

GLS deadlines for Christmas deliveries 

GLS has a slower transport time, due to using roads only,.

Based on the destination, the parcel need to be shipped from our warehouse according to the dates below. The order information needs in according to SLA, so before noon of each day.  

• Denmark, Germany, Southern Sweden and the Baltics :
  Thursday the 17th of December
• Rest of the Central EU, Northern Sweden and the UK:
  Monday the 14th of December
• Rest of the EU:
  Friday the 11th of December

Finnish Posti deadlines for Christmas deliveries

• Economy Letters: December 17th
• Priority Letters: December 18th
• Small Parcels: December 18th
• Postal-, Home- and Express Parcels: December 21st

To reach these dates, the order info  has to be in OGOship system with complete data before noon of each day.

As several governments open up the European countries, shipments are running smoothly again. Delays might still appear due to Covid-19.

DHL Express has added Emergency Situation Surcharge starting 24.5. See more here in our document about Covid19 effects to logistic prices:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U-MmEoMcuQG2lLP4GlvgpHszdnf7fJSlb3Xt03i2O6E/edit#

May 4, 2020| 11:30

DHL Express has an updated list of potential delays and block-zones which you can find from here:

https://www.simplydhl.com/covid-19updates

Notice example that to India there are strict delivery zones available at the moment.

Some delays in TLL warehouse for pick&pack operations. Unfortunately high peak of a holiday weekend combined to safety measures in the warehouse will cause delays. We estimate 1 day delay for some orders, where most is handled unaffected.

Dear VNL customer,

The coronavirus still keeps us all very busy and we are still living in a very hectic time, in which communication is crucial. We would therefore like to give you an update on the situation.

Our team is doing everything in its power, with the necessary adjustments drawn up by the RIVM and checked by the municipality, to continue to process everything as well as possible. Unfortunately, due to these adjustments, there is a delay in our processes. At the moment you have to take into account a processing time of 3-5 working days for your orders. Naturally, we will do everything we can to minimise this delay.

We have seen improvements in the past week and we are catching up with the backlog because we have taken various measures. Last week we hired new colleagues to strengthen our team and this week new people will join us again to strengthen our team. We have also set up pack-stations at various locations that can be used effectively this week, whereby the 1.5 meter distance remains guaranteed for our colleagues. During weekends and holidays, our colleagues continue to work to catch up.

The delays at the transporters are still unchanged, partly due to the RIVM guidelines and the accompanying measures.

We trust to have provided you with a correct update. Of course we will keep you informed if there are new updates. It remains an exceptional situation where cooperation and understanding are important.

April 15, 2020 | 15:15

Dear VNL-warehouse customer,

It goes without saying that the health and safety of our employees, customers and partners still comes first, which is why we keep a close eye on developments surrounding the Corona virus. This means that we are forced to let our colleagues keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters from each other. In addition, we make all possible means available to keep their safety as optimal as possible. Unfortunately, this does lead to delays in the process.

In addition, carriers also have delays due to similar causes.

Currently we see 1 to 2 days delay at GLS and DPD.

We count on your understanding in this extreme situation, our team and partners will do everything to get all orders to your customers as soon as possible.

Once again we would like to point out to you that due to the above mentioned measures, an explosive growth of online orders and a changing absenteeism in the entire chain, delays in the delivery of parcels can occur.

We ask you to take delivery promises to your customer(s) into account. It goes without saying that we will do our utmost to minimize delays, but as you will understand, we are also dependent on our partners/carriers.

Due to the covid19 Schenker has added a small increase to their prices for some of the products. Affected products are Domestic (Finland) System-, Direct- ja Parcel-deliveries.

This does not affect the PickUpPoint deliveries.

Schedule
27.4.–31.5.2020

Price
System- ja Direct-deliveries: 0,50 e/shipment (below 100 kg), 2,50 e/shipment (over 100 kgi)
Parcel-deliveries: 0,50 e/shipment

Omniva has limited their destinations for both Letter and parcel deliveries due customs restrictions. Omniva can still deliver to:

Argentina Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil (Mail and EMS only) Bulgaria Spain Holland Hong Kong Croatia Ireland Italy Japan Canada Greece Lithuania Liechtenstein Luxembourg Latvia Mexico Norway Poland Portugal France Sweden Romania Germany Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Finland Great BritainSwitzerland Denmark Czech Republic Ukraine Hungary Belarus Russia

In accordance with UK measures taken to minimize the spread of the coronavirus Royal Mail and Parcelforce have had to change their delivery process for all letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items requiring signature on delivery.

Since 13th March 2020 items requiring a signature on delivery will not always be signed for by the recipient. Instead, during these exceptional and difficult circumstances, where the recipient has not been able to sign for the item but has received the item, a code (XP1) will be entered into the PDA and will constitute evidence of receipt.

Royal Mail Group can no longer guarantee service delivery standards (including delivery times and other quality parameters) applicable under UPU and associated or related bilateral and multilateral agreements with designated operators and any interested third parties, and is invoking force majeure and analogous provisions to any such standards.

UPS is increasing prices for Express and Expedited products for both export and import (returns).

We are forced to move this increase directly into the price lists and it will begin 12.4 until further notice. This affects only merchants operating in our GOT warehouse and for these products - Express Saver is thus recommended when possible. Price increase is 2,40 SEK per kilo.

Due to another price increase from Asendia towards US and new restrictions - we are forced to block shipments to US with Asendia at the moment. Please change the delivery type to UPS and soon you’ll have another warehouse which has DHL Express with really attracting prices available. This update only concerns GOT-warehouse.

Due to the new restrictions and other border crossing processes DHL Sweden is increasing their prices in Exported shipments (DHL Parcel Connect for example). See the list and updated fees here. Domestic parcels, Parcel Connect and Paket Export is not affected with this surcharge. Only Euroconnect, Euroconnect Plus and Eurapid.

DHL Sweden is increasing their prices in Exported shipments

DHL (Sweden) has an updating list for different countries with blocked postal codes.

See more info on their home page https://www.logistics.dhl/se-sv/home/viktig-information/031720.html

All warehouses are operating normally without issues.

If a delay should come up, we will inform you on this page. Otherwise you can expect full capacity.
Finnish Post updated their Q&A which can be found at: Vastauksia koronan vaikutuksista Postin toimintaan

• All GLS operations are currently running normally and border restrictions are not concerning cargo & parcels
• If possible, get a confirmation from your receiver about their opening hours (B2B) and especially if they are in the quarantine zone (B2C, B2B). This minimizes the workload and returning shipments and thus delays. This is mandatory for all shipments going to Italy. Always try to have a phone-number in your shipment.
• Warehousing times for unsuccessful deliveries are shortened in some areas
  Signatures are not mandatory in all areas, in some deliveries you might not have a written signature as receipt of receiving. All other data regarding shipment status is as normal.
• Some delays possible depending on the destination country and their border processes - GLS asks for patience