Rail, air and sea services between the UK and France have resumed this morning after the French government agreed to ease its travel ban.

Along with French citizens and British nationals living in France, hauliers are now able to travel to and from France provided they have a recent negative Covid-19 test result, and soldiers have joined NHS test and trace staff in Kent to carry out rapid tests on stranded lorry drivers.

The number of commercial vehicles waiting to cross from the UK to France numbers in the thousands, meaning it is highly unlikely that services will return to normal before the end of the year. We are continuing to work with customers to find alternative routings for urgent direct drive shipments, making use of the additional freighter capacity into Europe being introduced by some airlines and alternative ocean crossing points.

Although some countries have eased travel restrictions with the UK overnight, many constraints remain in place and some passenger flights have been cancelled as a result. While capacity is inevitably reduced, existing freighter services continue to operate as normal and additional services are being introduced by many airlines, meaning that we are continuing to find solutions for time critical shipments. Please speak to our team to discuss any specific requirements.

As of 15:20 today, more than 40 countries have introduced significant restrictions on UK flight arrivals because of concerns at the spread of a new variant of coronavirus.

Flights are being suspended to countries across the world, with Spain, India and Hong Kong the latest countries to announce bans on all passenger flights arriving from the UK.

The French border remains closed to all accompanied freight arrivals, with Eurotunnel and ferry services suspended. The French government has said that it will establish a protocol “to ensure movement from the UK can resume”, and European Union member states are currently meeting in Brussels to discuss a co-ordinated response.

Our expectation is that some services will resume on Wednesday or Thursday this week, but that these will incorporate a Covid testing programme, which will inevitably mean further and significant delays.

Significantly, Russia has suspended all passenger flights to and from the UK for a week. In Time is ensuring that all courier and cargo material is moved to freighter only services and we expect only minimal disruption to our scheduled services.

This is the latest situation as we understand it:

• India will stop all flights from the UK until 31 December, starting on Wednesday
• Russia is suspending all passenger flights to and from the UK for a week
• The Netherlands has banned flights with passengers from the UK until 1 January
• Denmark has suspended all flights from Britain for 48 hours as of Monday morning
• Norway has also stopped planes from the UK two days
• All flights to and from Israel are suspended – this applies to both passenger and freight only services
• Belgium has banned flights and rail travel from the UK for 24 hours with more clarity expected tomorrow
• Italy has banned air passengers from Britain until 6 January and also anyone who has transited through the UK in the previous 14 days
• Austria has banned flights from the UK but the duration of the measure is not clear
• Germany is banning flights from the UK for an unspecified duration
• Spain will ban all entrants from the UK starting on Tuesday
• Portugal says only Portuguese people and residents of the country can arrive from the UK. Everyone must show proof of a negative COVID test, which can be accessed at airports
• Bulgaria is suspending flights from the UK until 31 January
• Switzerland has announced a travel ban on all people arriving from the UK and South Africa
• Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have agreed to ban flights from the UK until 31 January
• France has banned all accompanied freight and passenger arrivals from the UK for 48 hours
• Malta is suspending all flights to and from the UK from Tuesday
• Sweden is preparing to ban entry from the UK but the details are not yet clear
• Greece has extended the self-isolation time for those arriving from the UK from three days to seven days
• Turkey is suspending flights from the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands
• Hong Kong has banned all passenger flights from the UK
• Canada is banning flights from the UK for 72 hours
• Saudi Arabia has suspended all international passenger flights for a week
• Oman has closed its land, sea and air borders completely
• Kuwait has suspended all commercial flights, and will close its land and sea borders until 1 January
• Jordan has suspended all flights to and from the UK until 3 January
• El Salvador has banned travellers who have been in the UK within the previous 30 days
• Ireland has banned flights and ferries from the UK for 48 hours
• The Czech Republic says arrivals who have spent at least 24 hours in UK territory will need to isolate
• Colombia, Morocco, Chile, Finland, and Argentina have also banned passenger flights from the UK

Boris Johnson is due to hold a press conference later today, after which we will provide further information on how services are affected.

In response to the rapid transmission of the new variant of coronavirus within the UK, many countries in Europe and beyond have imposed significant travel restrictions on UK citizens and freight.

Significantly, both Port of Dover and Eurotunnel have suspended all passenger and freight services for a 48 hour period starting from 22:00hrs last night. As Dover-Calais is the most significant and fastest routing for express services between the UK and continental Europe, most dedicated vehicle services originating or terminating in the United Kingdom will not be possible at this time, and some delays to courier and road freight services are inevitable. Importantly, due to a massive backlog of freight and passenger vehicles, it is expected to take several days (if not weeks) after the lifting of restrictions for services to get back to normal.

In addition to France closing its borders with the UK, the following restrictions have been imposed within the last 24 hours:

• The Netherlands has banned flights with passengers from the UK until 1 January
• Belgium has banned flights and rail travel from the UK for 24 hours with more clarity expected on Tuesday
• Italy has banned air passengers from Britain until 6 January and also anyone who has transited through the UK in the previous 14 days – residents of Italy will still be able to depart Britain to return home
• Austria has banned flights from the UK but the duration of the measure is not clear
• Germany is banning flights from the UK for an unspecified duration
• Spain will cut flights if there is no joint EU response to the threat posed by the new virus strain
• Portugal says only Portuguese people and residents of the country can arrive from the UK. Everyone must show proof of a negative COVID test, which can be accessed at airports
• Bulgaria is suspending flights from the UK until 31 January
• France will bar entry for 48 hours (from Sunday night) to those coming from the UK (and accompanied freight) by road, air, sea or rail
• Sweden is preparing to ban entry from the UK but the details are not yet clear
• Turkey is suspending flights from the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands, with the last two countries among those where the new strain has also been found
• Canada is banning flights from the UK for 72 hours
• Saudi Arabia has suspended all international flights for travellers for a week
• Israel has banned entry to all non-Israelis flying from the UK, including those who transited through the UK
• El Salvador has banned travellers who have been in the UK within the previous 30 days, including transit passengers
• Ireland has banned flights and ferries from the UK for 48 hours
• The Czech Republic says arrivals who have spent at least 24 hours in UK territory will need to isolate
• Colombia, Morocco, Chile, Finland, and Argentina have also banned travellers from the UK

The situation is obviously very fluid, and further restrictions and changes to the above are expected to follow. We will endeavour to keep you fully informed throughout.

Although in most cases these restrictions apply to passenger travel, we anticipate significant and widespread flight cancellations over the coming days, which will inevitably have an effect on courier and freight services.

We are, as always, ready and waiting to assist our customers in finding solutions for urgent shipments and to offer advice and guidance on alternative routings and services wherever possible.

Heathrow Airport front line workers, including firefighters, engineers, baggage handlers and operations and security staff, have voted to support strike action in the lead up to Christmas, starting with a one day walk-out on Tuesday 1st December – next Tuesday!

Additional dates for planned strike action are 14th, 17th and 18th December.

Although Heathrow Airport have announced they will continue to operate normally, we anticipate that this action will impact our ability to lodge and/or retrieve cargo. Obviously we will do our best to reduce any inconvenience by considering alternative routings or modes of transport wherever possible, but with flight numbers and capacity already seriously reduced across all UK airports and freight volumes increased in line with seasonal trends, we anticipate that some delays are inevitable.

Our teams will, as always, work proactively with customers to design the most effective solutions for urgent cargo. However, we recommend that you allow a little more lead time than usual in the fulfilment of customer orders wherever possible.

As of 1st April 2020 all passenger flights to and from Russia have been suspended. In order to be able to provide you with an uninterrupted service, we have secured block bookings on cargo only flights throughout April, with an option to extend this into May should it prove necessary to do so.

Unfortunately, with all cargo-only operators charging considerably higher rates during this period of extended lockdown, we have no choice but to reluctantly pass our cost increases on to you.

Effective Monday 6th April, we will temporarily suspend all contract rates currently in force and introduce an Emergency Russia Courier Tariff. These rates, a copy of which can be downloaded here, will be applicable to all courier shipments sent on our express service to Russia until further notice. These rates remain subject to our standard variable fuel and security surcharge.

Shipments sent on our MODE service are unaffected by this change.

We very much regret that this course of action has proved necessary in order to ensure that our service remains consistent and uninterrupted, and we would like to ask for your understanding at this time.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us directly at any time.

As some of you may be aware, Russia will go on full lockdown from midnight tomorrow night. The reality of this will be very similar to that in the UK as a result of the measures introduced by the UK government on Monday night, with only key businesses being allowed to remain open and limited movement of people permitted. We have also just now had a definitive response from Aeroflot confirming that all passenger flights into and out of the Federation will be cancelled from tomorrow.

What does this mean for our services to and from Russia?

LAST OBC DEPARTURE TONIGHT – THURSDAY 26TH MARCH

Tonight will be our last OBC departure, meaning that our standard timed delivery services will be suspended until further notice. We do not expect to be able to resume this service until mid to late April. We will keep you regularly updated.

MOSCOW AND ST PETERSBURG COURIERS FULLY OPERATIONAL

Our dedicated couriers within Moscow and St Petersburg are working as usual, with delivery workers in Russia, as here, having been classified as key workers. However, with so many businesses closed and private individuals in isolation, we do anticipate a significant increase in failed delivery attempts. We can mitigate this to some degree and arrange re-deliveries to alternative addresses more easily if we have up-to-date contact information for consignees. It is therefore more important than ever to ensure that all consignment notes contain a contact name and telephone number for the consignee. If possible, an email address would also be extremely useful.

DELAYS TO OUTTER AREAS

Due to significant restrictions on domestic travel and flight and rail cancellations within the Federation, delays to outer areas are inevitable. We are doing our best to keep these to a minimum, but please understand that our usual transit times will not apply during this period.

NO SIGNATURE CAPTURE

To ensure the wellbeing of our couriers and our customers, we will not be obtaining signatures from consignees for the foreseeable future. Our couriers will instead place any parcels on the reception desk or doorstep of the consignee and stand back at least two metres. They will ask for the name of the receiver and this will be recorded as the POD signature.

RESTRICTED RECEIVING TIMES

We would like to remind you that, in order to keep our staff and customers safe, we have adjusted our receiving policy for courier shipments and restricted our receiving times to a two-hour window from 18:00hrs through to our normal 20:00hrs cut-off time. Our current receiving policy for courier shipments can be found below.

FREIGHTER FLIGHTS OPERATIONAL

A number of freighter services are operating to and from Russia, and In Time has access to all of these. Our brokers and delivery partners are all working, and we therefore anticipate no significant issues with cargo shipments or time-critical deliveries.


Once again, we would like to say a big thank-you to all our customers and suppliers for their understanding and support through this difficult period. We will work tirelessly to keep your business moving and are making it our mission to find solutions for your urgent freight!

We would like to share with you the following information relating to our current service status:

DEDICATED VEHICLE AND GROUPAGE SERVICES CONTINUE AS USUAL

We are pleased to be able to advise that the latest restrictions on European border controls do not relate to freight movements, and that our dedicated vehicle and groupage road services throughout Europe are therefore currently operating with no significant disruption.

In his latest statement, foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said international haulage and freight would not be included in the advice against travel because of the importance of maintaining supply chains for goods, stating that this kind of travel is considered essential and promising to “work with [the industry] to … maintain the flow of goods whilst protecting the wellbeing of staff who are working on those routes”.

In Time will be working closely with our industry partners and suppliers throughout to ensure that Government and NHS guidelines designed to ensure the safety of our staff, clients and partners is at the forefront of everything we do.

FREIGHTER FLIGHTS OPERATIONAL

In light of the travel restrictions imposed by many countries both within and outside of the European Union, a significant proportion of passenger flights have been cancelled, and we expect this trend to continue throughout the coming days and weeks.

Most freighter services, however, are operating to schedule, and there are relatively few restrictions on cargo movements.

At In Time, we have access to all airline freighter services and are actively seeking capacity co-loading on charter flights wherever there is a need.

RUSSIA COURIER SERVICE FULLY OPERATIONAL

Our courier services to Russia, including our twice-weekly on board courier, are currently operating to schedule with no delays.

We have, however, restricted our receiving times to a two-hour window from 18:00hrs through to our normal 20:00hrs cut-off time. Our current receiving policy for courier shipments can be found below.


We would like to thank all our customers and suppliers for their continued support through this difficult period. We will work tirelessly to keep your business moving and are making it our mission to find solutions for your urgent freight!

It goes without saying that, together, we’re experiencing incredibly challenging and unprecedented times. Our top priority is everyone’s health and wellbeing, and we are putting in place some practical measures to ensure that the risk of infection to our staff, clients and suppliers is minimised to the greatest degree possible.

Effective immediately, we will be making some practical changes to the way we receive and handle your regular Russia courier traffic as follows:

• our warehouse will be open to receive shipments daily from 18:00hrs until our regular cut off time of 20:00hrs. Unfortunately we will not be able to receive shipments outside of these times.
• we will be restricting access to our warehouse and offices, and your drivers are therefore requested to kindly place all shipments in the cage provided at the entrance to our warehouse and not to enter the building. A stamp will be provided for any drivers requiring this, but we will not be able to sign any manifests.

Although we enormously regret the impersonal nature of this policy, we hope you will appreciate that it is being implemented for the benefit of all concerned.

Currently there are no changes to our regular Russia courier flights, and we are operating a full schedule.

Obviously the situation with airline schedules and border closures is entirely fluid, and we will keep you informed of any changes to our scheduled operations. We will be posting regular updates on our website, so please keep checking this space for the latest information.

Our time-critical operation remains fully active, and our team is standing by to assist. As more and more flights are cancelled and other services disrupted, we will be working closely with all of our customers and service providers to find practical solutions for any urgent cargo.


We would like to thank you for your support and understanding. Our team is here to help, and we are ready to talk to you regarding any questions or concerns you may have.