Social distancing brings surge in business for courier services
Private courier service operators have seen a big jump in business opportunities due to the social distancing practice, but restrictions due to the emergency decree have hindered delivery of parcels, industry executives said.
Kerry Express (Thailand)’s chief commercial officer, Warawut Natpradith, said that there had been a 50 per cent increase in goods transported through his company -- 1.5 million on average every day -- since the decree has been enforced.
The sudden surge in orders had led to its godown being packed to capacity. He said the company can manage the problem. “The remaining goods would be totally cleared within this week,” he added.
He said their services were slowed down by many blockades. "Sending goods from Bangkok to Chiang Mai previously took around 7 to 8 hours, but now it takes around 15 hours because of checkpoints to protect from Covid-19."
Kerry Express has prioritised medical supplies and goods that can rot easily as top priorities for delivery nationwide within two or three days, while other goods will be sent within three to seven days.
The company has informed its customers about this new priority management, and will hire more than 1,000 staff to deal with the workload.
Meanwhile, Komsan Lee, Flash Express’ chief executive officer, said that on average his company's sales during January and March had gone up 20 per cent. “Flash’s transported goods per day were around 600,000, and can reach 800,000 on some days,” he said.
Flash Express has hired more staff to deal with the increase in the number of parcels.