- 17 December 2020
Transport Service | Coronavirus
We would like to keep you informed about the influence of the coronavirus on the transport market through this site. Mainfreight keeps a close eye on developments. We take measures to protect employees and customers, but we also try to keep our services as normal as possible.
Since Tuesday 15th December, the rules in the Netherlands have been tightened to prevent a further spread of the coronavirus. Also in Europe more and more countries are getting stricter rules. This often means closing all non-essential stores and only essential activities outside home are allowed. For the time being, Europe is still fully accessible for goods transport. We as Mainfreight still drive to and from all countries and do our utmost to get your goods to their destination. However, delays may occur and there may be fewer departures to certain destinations. To our regret, this has an impact on our transit times and deliveries. In addition, we would like to draw your attention to the enormous demand for transport these days. This will have an impact on our timetable. So book your shipments on time!
All European Mainfreight branches are open and operational. When booking your shipments, we urgently ask you to check whether pickup and delivery addresses are open (also around the holidays) and whether loading and unloading is possible. It is very important that we only receive shipments with addresses where loading and unloading can take place. If the pick-up or delivery address is closed, we kindly ask you to book your shipment only when these addresses are open again. If we are unable to deliver a shipment because of a (temporarily) closed unloading address, we are obliged to return this shipment to you. We will have to charge you for these extra costs.
Also pay extra attention to mentioning correct contact information when booking the shipment so that we have the correct and complete information at our disposal.
Brexit
We are currently seeing a significant increase in volumes to and from the United Kingdom. We see these pre-Brexit volumes with our own customers and in the market. Waiting times within the various links of the logistics chain are increasing enormously, causing delays in delivery for groupage shipments (1-2 days). As of December 22, we can no longer handle shipments because we can no longer guarantee regular departures with an arrival before January 1. For bookings from 22 December onwards, we kindly ask you to provide these bookings (digitally) with a packing list and invoice because these shipments may already be subject to customs duties.
LTL and FTL shipments (> 2 loading meters) are fully on request since last week because we can no longer guarantee capacity for these larger shipments. If you have any questions you can also contact our UK department (uk@nl.mainfreight.com).
Current situation transport United Kingdom - Update 22 December 2020
After yesterday's depressed news, following the mutated coronavirus in the United Kingdom (UK), the situation is unfortunately still unchanged. Mainfreight Transport is still looking for ways to get your shipments to the UK but capacity is still limited. In order to be of the best possible service to you as a customer Mainfreight Air will work with our offices in London to transport shipments to and from the UK by air. If you are interested in this solution you can contact your account manager or get in tour with your local branch.
21 December 2020
Unfortunately, we have to inform you that transport to and from the United Kingdom (UK) has become even more difficult due to the developments last weekend. The new and possibly more contagious variant of the coronavirus, which is currently circulating in part of the UK, means that the country is almost completely cut off from the outside world. Passenger traffic by plane, ferry, train or through the tunnel is prohibited. The ban follows an advice from the authorities that travel movements from the UK should be restricted as much as possible. Freight transport - accompanied and unaccompanied - is still possible to and from the UK. However, the capacity is many times smaller than the demand from the market. Mainfreight looks for all possible solutions to get capacity to and from the UK but unfortunately this has a major impact on our transit times and deliveries. Mainfreight can therefore no longer offer any guarantee on transit times and that shipments will be delivered to or from the UK before January 1st.
For the latest developments we would like to refer you to the website of ‘Transport en Logistiek Nederland’ (TLN).TLN shares through their live blog updates about the corona crisis and the consequences for the transport and logistics sector.
Holiday overview
In addition to corona, Mainfreight Transport has an adjusted schedule for pickups and deliveries around the December and January holidays. To know exactly what this means for the transit time of your export groupage shipments, you can consult our most recent holiday overview online.
For the (revised) transit time of import and LTL/FTL shipments you can always contact us.
On December 25th and January 1st Mainfreight Transport NL will be closed.
If you have any questions, please contact your account manager or our customer service team (customerservice@nl.mainfreight.com).
More information
TLN maintains an up-to-date and insightful overview of the measures that apply to the transport of professional goods by country in Europe: www.tln.nl/coronavirus-en-landeninformatie/.
Some of Mainfreight's employees work from home, so please contact us by email as much as possible.
In all its decisions, Mainfreight follows and acts in accordance with the regulations of the National Institute of Public Health.
Protocol Coronavirus within Mainfreight
Within Mainfreight we have started below protocol, which helps to minimize the potential spreading of the Coronavirus. We will continue to implement any new protocols as they are advised by the relevant authorities.
• Cover your nose and mouth with a handkerchief or use a your bent elbow if you cough or sneeze.
• Don’t shake hands or kiss as a greeting.
• Wash your hands regularly for at least 30 seconds with soap and water or with a disinfecting alcohol gel. Dry your hands with paper towels.
• Avoid contact and keep a distance of at least 1,5 meter
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Do not share personal items such as pens, food, drinks, cups etc.
• Stay at home (or work from home if possible) if you feel ill.
• Contact your doctor if you have a fever, cough and are short of breath.
• Inform your supervisor if you have been in risk areas. This includes China, South Korea, Northern Italy, Japan, Iran, Singapore, Hong Kong, United States and Thailand etc.
Loading and unloading at suppliers / customers
• Drivers must disinfect their hands and avoid direct contact. Do not shake hands. Keep 1,5 meter distance.
• Drivers are not allowed in the warehouse.
• Use your own pen when processing shipment documents.
• Use disinfecting gel
Loading and unloading cross dock
• Drivers must disinfect their hands and avoid direct contact. Do not shake hands. Keep 1,5 meter distance.
• External Drivers are not allowed on the cross dock.
• Use your own pen when processing shipment documents.
• Disinfecting gel. Use this also for access control.