How many days does it take to dispatch a container or why does my cargo not arrive from abroad? What happens if my package hasn't changed its status on the digital platform since April? Why was a shipment delivered to me that was not mine?
These are some of the questions asked by customers of the parcel service in Cuba, a modality that in 2020, as a consequence of COVID-19, began to experience a decrease due to the cancellation of international flights, the main route by which They transport postal items and parcels. Faced with this reality, Granma approached the directors of the Post Office Business Group of Cuba (GECC) to clear up any questions.
Zoraya Bravo Fuentes, deputy director of the GECC's International Messaging and Exchange Company (EMCI), explained to our newspaper that in view of the reality described above, the arrival of international parcels by sea on the island has increased in record numbers - an alternative in the face of the pandemic–, by processing through this means, at the end of April, more than 500,000 shipments, higher than everything processed in 2019 (by sea and air). Last year, 1,036,000 shipments (1,971 tons) were received by both routes.
Faced with this increase, Correos de Cuba adopted measures to shorten the times –from the time they arrived at the port of Mariel and their arrival at the destination–, among which is the extension of work shifts from Monday to Monday 12 hours a day, an action that has a positive impact on the processing capacity, since seven to 25 containers were processed per month.
Likewise, she explained that other X-ray equipment was installed in the plants, which also facilitated the level of processing of international parcels, since "in Cuba 100% of shipments are processed by Customs," she pointed out.
Bravo Fuentes added that a fourth plant with greater processing capacity was opened.
USA AND A LOCKDOWN THAT IS REAL
To send a package to Cuba, for example, from any city in the US, the sender hires the service of an agency that sends it to the port of Miami, where it is placed in a container and when it is full, it is sent to a ship, which has to wait to complete its load to leave for Panama.
The GECC board stated that due to the unilateral Helms-Burton Law, which reinforced the economic blockade against our country in March 1996, that ship cannot touch a Cuban port, before which an agency, with which Correos de Cuba has a contract , unloads the container in Panama, relabels the shipments, places them in another container and transfers them on another vessel to the port of Mariel. A journey that can take at least three to four months, a whole “way of the cross”.
Alliance between Transport, Communications, Customs and Post Office seeks to accelerate high-demand services
But why does this happen? In 2020, the doubling of volumes of shipments to our country was associated with the United States, however, as there is no direct contractual relationship with the parcel agencies located in that nation, cargoes to the Island are put at risk, having to process the packages through a third country so that they can reach Cuba, stressed the Deputy Director of the GECC International Courier and Exchange Company.
How to import vouchers from excel to tally https://t.co/KICF0Juwid
— Caclubindia Fri Oct 21 08:46:44 +0000 2016
Not having a direct contract with a forwarding agency in the US implies that it is providing a service and communication of your package to the sender and recipient, of which Correos de Cuba is outside, added Bravo Fuentes.
However, he pointed out that there is a regular and expeditious exchange of information with parcel operators in Panama and other countries in the region, either electronically or by videoconference, and claims are being settled.
MAIN DISSATISFACTIONS
According to José Manuel Valido Rodríguez, director of Institutional Communication of the GECC, claims in 2020 for the concepts of loss, looting and change of content represented 0.01% of the total shipments processed that year.
In the case of the unfortunate events that occurred recently in Santiago de Cuba due to the change of content in some shipments, in an informative note from the GECC it was reported that "serious violations of the procedures and postal security systems established in Correos de Cuba to the registration, processing, processing and control of shipments, by some workers who work in the postal classification center of that province", a situation in which disciplinary and precautionary measures were adopted, the latter pending the conclusion of the investigative process of the National Revolutionary Police.
He mentioned, among other dissatisfactions, the delay in the delivery of shipments to customers, due to the limitations generated by the blockade, the pandemic, as well as subjective problems associated with the internal operational and transportation processes of the GECC, which have a negative impact.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Correos de Cuba is expanding the transportation network with other entities of the Ministry of Transportation and private carriers to improve the quality of service.
Bravo Fuentes explained that the GECC is currently promoting an investment process with foreign capital for the automation of the shipment processing plants of the International Messaging and Exchange Company, so that all traffic - from an envelope to a package of 30 kilograms – enter the classification and dispatch areas, and from there to the final destination.
He added that this process seeks to face a higher demand for shipments that comply with the standards of the Cuban Post Office, while pointing out that it seeks to have a system of 32 exit doors and to automatically classify, by municipality, the 169 Destinations.
The directive pointed out that Correos de Cuba works to achieve an alliance with the national industry and with universities such as Cuaje, to find national solutions that facilitate the completion of the automation system of the shipment processing plants.