Businesses that will need to transport goods in and out of London during the 120 day period of the the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, Festival 2012, and the 2012 Olympics are making contingency plans, such as Yodel’s “Olympic Village HQ” – in Vauxhall.
During the key period between the opening and closing of the Olympic Village Yodel will provide clients with daily updates on service, traffic congestion and postcode hot spots.
Marija Simovic, chief operating officer, said: “This is a summer of celebration in Britain, from the Queen’s Jubilee in June through to closure of the Olympic Park in September. There is a great deal of excitement in the run up to the Games and we’ve been planning well in advance to ensure that our deliveries run smoothly for our clients and their customers throughout this period.”
Norbert Dentressangle has launched a “hot spot” planning tool that identifies if a customer’s delivery location might be affected by an event, or if any restrictions apply. It then provides a proposed alternative date that is clear.
Some 80 Norbert customers also attended its “On Track For London 2012” conference which also addressed events held across the UK including Weymouth, Dorset, which hosts the sailing events and is expected to attract over 50,000 visitors a day.
Mike Bridges, managing director at Norbert Dentressangle Transport Services, said: “Some businesses will need to change the way they operate to meet the logistical challenges.”
Stuart Miller, chief executive and co-founder of ByBox, said: : “Companies which through no fault of their own are situated in areas affected by the road closures will find themselves paying surcharges for deliveries as carriers are bound to incur extra costs.”
Miller reckons ByBox drop-boxes will be a solution for many firms, and the firm is planning to double the number of vans on some routes and bring forward the collection times “As we routinely deliver through the night already, we won’t have to make such major adjustments as the traditional carriers will. In any event, we have been planning for the Olympics for months,” he said.
