BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 24
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
The COVID-19 pandemic considerably affected postal forwarding, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies told Trend.
According to the ministry, air traffic has decreased worldwide almost tenfold, and some countries have completely closed borders not only for passengers but also for letters and parcels.
"Due to the current situation, delays have also arisen in our work, but now international delivery is gradually returning to normal," the ministry’s representatives added.
In order to reduce the time of forwarding export mail shipments, the ministry applies alternative shipping options.
"We use multimodal delivery methods that combine land and air transportation. Alternative delivery methods may lead to longer delivery times due to restrictions on the postal services of recipient countries during the pandemic. We are also working hard to deliver all export parcels," noted the representatives.
As for the postal items within the country, the ministry stressed that there is a significant increase in parcel mail, almost twice compared to the same period last year.
Besides, as the ministry noted, that since March 2020, the reception and dispatch of international mails have been limited.
"The scheduled routes were canceled, leading to a significant reduction in the volume of the international mailing. As a result of the negotiations, on April 14, 2020, Azerpost LLC established the international mailing to 18 countries, and on April 29, 16 more countries were added to this list, and on May 20, Azerpost began to carry out mail shipments to 40 countries of the world," the ministry also said.
Summing up, the ministry emphasized that ground routes, previously not used between postal operators, were also involved in the delivery of international items. With the pandemic still ongoing, air travel between countries remains limited, entailing delays and interruptions in the delivery of international mails.
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