Heathrow Closure Leads To Air Freight Delays
London Heathrow Airport has been closed since Thursday night, due to a fire at a substation that provides it with power, and it will not be reopening until at least midnight on Friday March 21st.
Firefighters were called to the blaze at 23:23 pm and managed to get the fire under control by 6:30 am in the morning. However, the power outage has already resulted in no flights for at least a 24-hour period.
Over 1300 flights have already been cancelled or diverted and overnight arrivals were routed to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Manchester mid flight. Efforts are underway to transport diverted cargo back to Heathrow.
Several airline sheds are still operating and most import collections can be arranged provided the shipment is customs cleared. Export deliveries are more hit and miss and much more dependent on whether the specific shed has power.
More than 70% of air cargo moving through the UK is dependent on Heathrow, which makes it likely that backlogs will build and the disruption will continue for at least the next few days.
The Envio team are monitoring developments. Should you require further information, then please do not hesitate to contact us.
