An email tweeted by Joel Hills of ITV News shows that UPS has had to temporarily suspend UK-EU deliveries that are part of the Amazon Partnered Carrier Programme, which transports small parcels from Amazon sellers.
In the email, sent by Amazon Services Europe, it is explained that Brexit has “led to a backlog of Partnered Carrier Programme shipments that do not have the required documentation to clear customs.”
This, according to the email, has “caused a strain on the UPS network” that means it will be temporarily suspending Partnered Carrier Programme small parcel deliveries between the UK and EU.
As a result of the temporary suspension, parcels will be returned to sellers.
New: more customs chaos. Amazon sent this to some of its sellers last night. @UPS is “temporarily suspending” the Partnered Carrier Programme on deliveries between UK and EU.
There is a backlog of parcels without the paperwork needed to clear customs and UPS cannot cope. pic.twitter.com/Up9z4NtkKS— Joel Hills (@ITVJoel) January 27, 2021
UPS are far from being the only major logistics company to run into problems with post-Brexit deliveries. Both DPD and DB Schenker temporarily halted their services between the UK and the EU earlier this month, but have since got things up and running again.
The news comes less than 24 hours after it emerged that Amazon had decided to stop deliveries of alcohol between the UK and Northern Ireland due to customs obstacles.
According to ITV News, the e-commerce giant is also expected to do the same with pet food, organic food supplements and some over-the-counter medicines.
In a statement, a spokesperson from Amazon said: “We are planning and preparing for April 1st end of the grace period so we can continue to serve our customers in Northern Ireland who count on Amazon with the broadest possible selection of products.”
Meanwhile, Amazon appears to be ramping up its activities inside the EU Single Market. Earlier today, the company revealed that it is going to launch a fully fledged service in Poland, and has now made their platform available to individual sellers in the country.
Photo credits: Qualle / Wikimedia Commons (left) + Christian Wiediger / Unsplash (right)