Ems And Mail Deliveries Back To Normal Tomorrow

Mail deliveries back to normal tomorrow

BANGKOK: -- Deliveries of stranded mail and parcels began returning to normal after more flights became available yesterday to handle deliveries from U-Tapao airport.

Thailand Post president Ormsin Cheewaplueck said that the week-long closures of Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports had left more than 100,000 pieces of mail and parcels stranded, including 4,000 pieces of inbound and outbound EMS items.

But latest reports showed that conditions were improving and were expected to return to normal by tomorrow, after three airlines were assigned more flights at U-Tapao to ferry mail to Suvarnabhumi for deliveries to end destinations.

Mr Ormsin said that some mail and parcels were transported by land to U-Tapao in Chon Buri to deliver to end destinations, thus easing the backlog.

He said that normally, inbound and outbound mail and parcels weighed about 10 tonnes a day or 1,000 bags.

After the two airports were closed by protesters last week, the company notified its customers of expected late deliveries, notably for EMS. But some customers continued using EMS, but at declining rates.

Mr Ormsin said that Thailand Post's operating costs had risen because it had to increase the frequencies of road shipments for domestic EMS. As well, it faced extra costs for shifting mail from Suvarnabhumi to U-Tapao, and for using three airlines to handle the backlog.

But he was optimistic that since the airport closure was short-lived, earnings for the year would not suffer very much.

Thailand Post did well in the first 10 months of the year, with revenue of 12 billion baht, up 20% year-on-year.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-11-04