Incident Bulletin 20 January, 2025
The Incident Bulletin is sent once a week, when there are major incidents to report affecting postal distribution.
This week's bulletin contains information about Spain, Georgia, Italy, United States and Sudan.
Spain
Report date: 13 January
Incident: Back to normal
Correos y Telégrafos, wishes to inform that although some recovery efforts are still in progress following the torrential rains of 29 October 2024, logistics and distribution operations have now returned to normal in all affected postcode areas.
Georgia
Report date: 13 January
Incident: Back to normal
Georgian Post, wishes to inform that the IT issues have been resolved and the transmission of all messages has resumed as normal.
Italy
Report date: 13 January
Incident: Update following hacking attack
Poste Italiane, wishes to inform that BCUBE, Poste Italiane’s airmail unit (AMU) service provider, has now restored the operation of its IT systems. All EDI messages are again being sent, although occasional delays in data transmission are leading to difficulties with customs clearance processes at offices of exchange (OEs).
Poste Italiane has implemented an exceptional recovery plan to enable the large backlog to be processed by its OEs, despite delays in the customs clearance process and consequent capacity/space reductions.
Regarding the management of volumes arriving via air, although Poste Italiane initially intended to strictly follow the first in/first out principle, this was found not to be an effective means of quickly eliminating the backlog. Therefore, it has instructed BCUBE to forward a controlled mix of both products – backlogged and new arrivals – to OEs. In fact, if correctly accompanied by ITMATT, newly arriving mail can be processed faster than “old” shipments in the backlog. This solution ensures that there is sufficient space at the AMU to process incoming products, maximizes the production rate at all OEs, and reduces the risk of saturation at both AMU and OEs.
With the aim of relieving pressure on AMU Malpensa (MXP), Poste Italiane encourages designated operators to use flights landing at Milano Linate Airport (LIN) wherever possible, or air-by-road connections to AMU Linate (LIN) from any other European airport. Designated operators willing to take these steps are kindly requested to inform Poste Italiane at the following e-mail addresses: TRASPORTI_INTERNAZIONALI@posteitaliane.it; cinzia.matteo@posteitaliane.it; and anna.lanfranco@posteitaliane.it.
United States
Report date: 14 January
Incident: Force majeure situations
United States Postal Service informs that USPS is declaring a force majeure situation due to the impacts of the Los Angeles fires, which have resulted in widespread catastrophic damage in Southern California.
The USPS declaration of force majeure (in effect until further notice) will cover USPS service and performance obligations for EMS, letter post (P, G, and E format) and parcels, owing to major routeing and delivery disruption, including destruction of postal facilities. Areas with postal codes in the 90001–95399 range are impacted. Recovery and clean-up are expected to be lengthy for the communities in these areas.
Additionally, USPS is declaring a force majeure situation in postal code areas 99556 to 99780, due to the impacts of severe winter weather, which has resulted in limited services in an 80 km radius of Anchorage, Alaska.
As conditions improve, USPS will advise on any changes to these force majeure declarations. Designated operators requiring updates may also e-mail their inquiries tointlops@usps.gov.
Sudan
Report date: 16 January
Incident: Disruption to postal services
Sudanese Postal Services wishes to inform that the conflict that broke out in Khartoum in April 2023, which subsequently spread to certain other regions of the country, has affected its postal infrastructure in various areas.
Sudapost was able to resume its services in May 2024 in the safe states and territories.
However, the conflict is ongoing and postal services continue to be affected. Sudapost is unable to guarantee the timely delivery of mail and EMS items, owing to the need for such deliveries to pass through numerous security checkpoints.
Accordingly, Sudapost has declared a case of force majeure, effective from 15 April 2023.
United States
Report date: 17 January
Incident: Update on disruption due to hurricanes
United States Postal Service (USPS) informs that their designated operators regarding the current status of postal operations affected by hurricanes since 24 October 2024.
Postal operations have returned to normal with effect from 16 January 2025 in the following areas:
27006–28909 (North Carolina)
38501–38589 (Tennessee)
30401–30999 and 31501–31699 (Georgia)
33501–34997 (Florida)
Therefore, the USPS declaration of force majeure in connection with EmIS 156/2024 and 169/2024 has ended, and normal USPS service and performance obligations for letter post (P, G and E format), parcels and EMS have been restored in the above areas. Should you have any questions, please contact intlops@usps.gov.