Select a region
A company that ships e-commerce products has revealed that it will be launching a mail service offering the public next day delivery to the UK, to fill an industry gap left by the removal of the island's daily mail plane.
Christopher Bee, the chief executive of Hub Europe, said he hoped the "mail fast" service could be up and running within a month.
Royal Mail made the decision to scrap Jersey's daily mail plane service earlier this year, meaning that all inbound and outbound mail will now be carried by the existing ferry service.
Mr Bee explained that his business, which currently ships e-commerce deliveries, transported around 500 to 600 items out of the Island each day. The freight is taken to Southampton Airport via the Blue Islands airline.
However, Mr Bee said the new mail fast service would offer the public next-day delivery of packets and parcels to the UK – and that the company was also examining the possibility of having its own small aircraft.
"We have the financial backing to do so, we are looking at the pure logistics of it," Mr Bee said.
"We are also in discussions with local retailers to have drop-off and pick-up points around the island," he added.
He stressed that the primary motivation for launching mail fast was "to offer a service to Jersey that I don't think should have been removed".
He said the company was in discussions with the government to ensure it had the necessary privileges and customs clearances.
"The people of Jersey have the right to demand an equal and equitable service to that of our neighbours and competitors."
He said that the new service would offer next day delivery to the UK of a 5kg parcel for around £16.50, while a 2kg parcel would cost around £9.
Within weeks of the daily mail plane between England and Jersey being stopped on 7 August, islanders were reporting that items of mail were taking five or six days to arrive.
National media outlets have highlighted the problems facing Royal Mail, with reports that delivery targets had been missed in every UK postcode, and blackspots in some areas were putting the National Health Service under strain because appointment letters did not arrive on time.
A source close to Royal Mail was reported by The Times as saying that the next three months were 'make or break' for Royal Mail after it lost a tenth of its business to rivals in a year of strikes, and delivered a £750 million loss.
Julie Thomas, Postal and Logistics Director for Jersey Post, said the company had been striving to get to the bottom of why post coming to the island had been taking longer.
She said: “We have been in dialogue with Royal Mail on a daily basis – there were teething issues with their new super-hub, but the situation seems to have improved in the last week to 10 days.”
The new super-hub at Daventry in Northamptonshire handles mail from around the UK before it is sent by boat to Jersey.
Ms Thomas added: “We know that some of the issues [faced by Royal Mail] are wider than the super-hub, with ongoing staffing issues affecting the collection of post and getting it to the super-hub.”
Jersey Post has consistently stated that delayed arrival for incoming post is a matter for Royal Mail, as postal items are routinely delivered within 24 hours of arriving in Jersey.
Pictured: Customers have been reporting delays since the loss of the mail plane.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Improving quality of service is one of Royal Mail’s top priorities and our primary focus is to restore performance and deliver the high standards of service our customers expect.
“While the majority of mail is delivered safely and on time, service levels are currently not where we want them to be largely due to high levels of staff absence and vacancies.
“Across the business, plans to improve quality are already underway with targeted recruitment drives and a dedicated highly skilled performance team working with local units to improve quality.”
Jersey's mail plane officially scrapped
Minister to write to Royal Mail following mail plane cancellation fears
What could moving from a mail plane to ferry mean for Jersey firms?
End of the mail plane and next-day delivery from the UK in sight?
Daily aircraft “imperative” to Guernsey Post
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.
Once your comment has been submitted, it won’t appear immediately. There is no need to submit it more than once. Comments are published at the discretion of Bailiwick Publishing, and will include your username.