New Zealand – Severe weather conditions

02 February, 2023

Update

NZ Post, asks us to inform other Union member countries and their designated operators that torrential rain across the Auckland region has caused widespread flooding. The severe weather conditions are affecting the delivery and collection of all mail items. A state of local emergency has been declared for the Auckland region for seven days, ending on Saturday, 4 February 2023.

More heavy rain is forecast for the Auckland and Northland regions and other parts of the North Island of New Zealand throughout the week commencing Monday, 30 January 2023. While the weather event is specific to Auckland, NZ Post's sole office of exchange is in Auckland, meaning all international inbound/outbound mail handling and processing is adversely affected as extreme flooding and road closures into and out of Auckland have negatively impacted NZ Post's ability to transport mail and complete deliveries in many areas. As a result, the quality of service will be disrupted until further notice.

The NZ Post customer care center in Auckland is operating as normal; however, they expect higher than normal volumes and therefore delays in answering inquiries. Auckland Airport resumed operations from 17.00 on Saturday, 28 January, and no further closure updates have been reported.

A further "red level warning"/severe rain event is forecast for the upper North Island of New Zealand, which could worsen the situation and extend local emergency notices, and by association New Zealand's force majeure event.

NZ Post will provide updates should this prove to be the case. An assessment by NZ Post is currently underway and the situation is being monitored closely.