FedEx Photo: Xinhua

Several foreign express giants said that their operations are running as normal, refuting online rumors that delivery companies from Europe and the US are suspending postal and parcel express services in China amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

FedEx's international express and freight center at Shanghai Pudong International Airport has kept operating during the recent outbreak, in a bid to ensure normal export business and promote the recovery and development of global trade, FedEx told the Global Times.

It will resume accepting incoming international express shipments to Shanghai Pudong International Airport from Monday. In addition, the Asia-Pacific transshipment center at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport has been operating normally.

The rumors about service suspensions are not true, the company added.

The remarks came after rumors circulated online that overseas firms would be suspending postal and parcel express services to China due to the pandemic.

DHL Express told the Global Times that it is actively coordinating its own fleet to safeguard the closed-loop work in its North Asia hub based in Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

UPS said its two transfer centers in Shanghai and Shenzhen remain operational, providing services to customers on the precondition of meeting local epidemic control rules, and the company is also taking necessary measures to reduce the COVID-19 impact on customers, according to thepaper.cn.

While international express giants deny rumors of service halts to China, there have been some partial and regional service adjustments.

UPS said on April 12 that it decided to suspend the import of international air cargo from the US to Shanghai as well as Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in East China. 

On the same day, DHL issued an announcement on its website, suspending express inbound services entering Shanghai as well as Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces pending further notice.

FedEx said on April 13 that it would suspend the service of imported shipments transiting from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, through Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

"Our business has seen some impact, but we transferred some goods that originally needed to be shipped from Shanghai port to the ports of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and tried to avoid logistics problems," Diane Wang, founder of B2B cross-border e-commerce marketplace DHgate, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

She said their logistics costs have increased as well. Before the pandemic, logistics accounted for about 15-20 percent of the goods prices, but that's increased to 25-30 percent, she said. 

The company has more than 46 million registered buyers from 223 countries and regions, connecting them to over 2.4 million suppliers in China and other countries, with over 37 million live listings on the platform.

Zhang Jian, a daigou (shopping agent) in Japan, told the Global Times on Sunday that his company is now shifting to other reliable delivery companies to make transfers after Japan Post suspended services to the Chinese mainland. 

He said the company now chooses to send the goods to a third airport, then transfer them to the company in the mainland, instead of direct flights from Japan to China, to avoid congestion.  

"But with the government ramping up efforts on facilitating the supply chain amid epidemic prevention and control, which can be seen with the reopening of most of the highways, the situation is improving," Wu Minghua, a Shanghai-based veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday.

He predicting that suspended international express services will resume soon, especially when a market like the Yangtze River Delta, the major production and trade hub, is something that no international express firms can afford to lose."

On April 21, Japan Post said it will suspend the acceptance of international mail sent to the Chinese mainland from April 22, and suspend EMS, air and sea parcels sent from Japan to China, citing the reduction of flights and ships to China, which has affected its capacity. 

Canada Post also said on the same day that, due to a lack of available air transportation, it would suspend air package deliveries for China, with non-air delivery taking up to 12 weeks.