Postal services to certain destinations suspended

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Hongkong Post today (April 9) announced the need to suspend Speedpost services to the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA) starting from April 14 owing to the substantial reduction in flight frequencies by airlines, which has resulted in a nearly complete inability to provide any air traffic capacity to cope with the volume of Speedpost items conveyed to the UK and the USA. Hongkong Post had previously made an announcement about the service suspension of air mail to the UK and the USA on March 27. Members of the public may consider using surface mail for posting items to the UK and the USA as the frequencies of the shipping schedules to the two destinations have been increased to once per week. It is estimated that the journey time for posting through surface mail to the UK and the USA would take about 25 days and 31 days respectively.

Destinations		Service types available	Estimated journey time for surface mail
Europe	UK	Surface mail	25 days
North America	USA	Surface mail	31 days

In addition, destinations in Europe listed below are also suffering from insufficient air traffic capacity as a result of continued flight reductions. Hongkong Post will try to maintain the Speedpost service to these destinations as far as possible to facilitate the posting of urgent mail by the public. Notwithstanding this, Speedpost items handed to airlines for conveyance to these destinations are still subject to delays of more than one week despite the completion of handling procedures by Hongkong Post subsequent to posting.

Destinations		Service types available
Europe	France	Speedpost
	Italy	Speedpost and surface mail
	Netherlands	Speedpost and surface mail

Moreover, mail items to be sent to the following destinations are required to transit via the above destinations, therefore services for them will also be affected to varying degrees:

Destinations		Service types available
Africa	Réunion	Speedpost and surface mail
	Algeria	Speedpost
	Côte d'Ivoire	Speedpost
	Senegal	-
Central and South America	El Salvador	Speedpost and air parcel
	Guatemala	Speedpost and air parcel
	Puerto Rico	Surface mail
	Virgin Islands (USA)	Surface mail
Europe	San Marino	Speedpost
Europe	Vatican	-

Members of the public may visit the Hongkong Post website and refer to the links: www.hongkongpost.hk/en/about_us/whats_new/notices/index_id_909.html, www.hongkongpost.hk/en/about_us/whats_new/notices/index_id_910.html
and www.hongkongpost.hk/en/preparation/posting/latest_dates/index.html for all the destinations affected and the latest dates of posting for forthcoming surface despatches.

Ends/Thursday, April 9, 2020
Issued at HKT 16:30

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