Hope you weren’t planning on importing any games or other media anytime soon. Shipments from Japan to the US will continue to be significantly delayed as the Japan Post Service announced it is temporarily halting Airmail and EMS international post services to the United States. Beginning Friday, April 24, 2020, those services will be completely suspended until further notice. This suspension of services is in addition to previously active suspensions that were already causing delays in international shipments.
Japan Post says the reason for the suspension is “due to the flight reduction and suspension of aircraft” as the spread of COVID-19 continues around the globe. Many packages were already being delayed to the reduction in flights and services to get the shipments to their final destinations. They ultimately decided that they couldn’t maintain the backlog of delayed packages and ordered the complete suspension. Packages that are already in the system will continue to be sent in the order they were received, with delays of up to four months expected, but no new packages addressed to the US will be accepted at this time.
These are the services being suspended indefinitely by Japan Post. No items will be accepted for these shipment methods:
- EMS
- Parcel via airmail (SAL already suspended)
- Ordinary mail (Small packages, printed material) via airmail
DHL and FedEx services will continue, as they don’t use the Japan Post Service for shipping. Packages being sent internationally via DHL and FedEx shouldn’t be impacted by this service suspension, so if you are planning to import anything anytime soon, double-check the shipping method to make sure you won’t be waiting indefinitely to receive it.
This is just one more example of the breakdowns in the chain of global physical distribution of items due to the pandemic. Final Fantasy VII Remake is currently facing significant physical shortages due to production and shipping delays, and Sony delayed The Last of Us Part II indefinitely due to logistics issues with physical shipments that would impact the worldwide release.
[Source: Japan Post Service; Via: Siliconera]
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