We are currently receiving emails daily from suppliers and carriers about major delays in shipments through a majority of our carriers due to an increase of Omicron cases.
As the number of daily Omicron cases increase in the community, it is important that we keep you updated as we attempt to navigate through this rapidly changing landscape.
Carriers have advised us that freight volumes throughout the supply chain continue to remain at peak season levels. In addition, they have implemented further COVID protocols to reduce the impact of isolation requirements across their teams.
We have seen New Zealand Couriers affected by this with chunks of their processing teams in both Auckland and Hamilton having to self-isolate. This has also affected the Hamilton Mainfreight depot where they are facing staff shortages also due to self-isolation which is resulting in consignments sitting in the Hamilton depot for up to 5 days before being able to be dispatched to us.
As a result of this, our carriers have asked us to remind our customers of the following:
- Transit times - where possible, please allow an additional 1-2 working days on standard transit times. Whilst our carriers endeavour to deliver within normal expectations, delays will occur.
- Urgent shipments - please contact your local branch with any specific requests and they will assist you with service and tracking options.
- Home deliveries - in addition to the extra transit times mentioned above, for residential deliveries it is imperative that all receivers' mobile numbers are provided. This will help with communication for completing deliveries under our current protocols.
New Zealand Couriers have also released a Network Status Dashboard which they currently update at 12:30pm each day. This shows the current status of their network. You can read frequent detailed updates on the New Zealand Couriers website.
We are trying our best to get stock in as soon as possible and we are currently holding months' worth of stock to try and avoid delays, but we can't carry everything, so we thank you for your patience while we get your stock in if we don't currently have it.
Keep up to date with our COVID-19 protocols and Courier Updates below.
