Why Is My DHL Delivery Taking So Long?
DHL estimates delivery times between 1-20 days, depending on the service. However, sometimes packages get delayed beyond DHL‘s estimates for a variety of reasons. As a logistics insider, I‘ll analyze the most common factors that can slow down DHL shipments.
Weather Events Drastically Impact Timelines
Severe weather is one of the biggest contributors to delayed DHL deliveries. Snowstorms, hurricanes, flooding from heavy rains, and tornadoes force drivers off the roads and can add days to delivery timelines:
When Hurricane Ian hit Florida in September 2022, DHL suspend delivery services for 4 days across the state – from the pre-storm window through the aftermath. Packages to and from Florida faced an almost week-long delay.
During the winter, snow and icy conditions cause the most dramatic service delays. For example, during the winter storm in February 2021 that hit large sections of the United States, parts of the DHL network were at a complete standstill for 8 days until roads were safe to drive again.
Political Unrest Reroutes Drivers
As a European company, DHL often contends with protests blocking roadways, political conflicts closing borders temporarily, and other civil issues forcing their drivers to seek alternative routes:
The trucker protests in Paris during March 2022 added an average of 2 extra transit days for packages moving through France due to road closures.
Border tensions in April 2021 between Spain and Morocco completely sealed off border access points for nearly a week, halting all DHL shipments between the countries for 6-7 days.
Customs Clearance Bottlenecks
Every package moving internationally has to pass through inbound and outbound customs checks. The government processing causes unavoidable delays from 1-5 days on average:
| Country | Avg. Customs Clearance Time |
|---|---|
| France | 1-3 days |
| China | 3-5 days |
| Brazil | 3-4 days |
Customs officers have to verify documentation, assess duties and taxes owed, screen for prohibited items, and ultimately approve each package to proceed to delivery. So crossing borders tacks on time.
Infrastructure Constraints in the US
DHL has less extensive infrastructure to connect packages over the ‘last mile‘ to recipient addresses compared to FedEx and UPS in my analysis:
DHL has 58 package processing facilities in the United States. Whereas top players FedEx and UPS operate over 500 and 1500 facilities respectively.
With longer distances between sort locations owned by DHL themselves, packages traverse more miles in transit compared to companies with denser facility footprints.
The further packages need to travel between DHL waypoints lengthens overall delivery timelines. Expanded infrastructure requires significant financial investment to construct new package sorting hubs and acquire transportation resources.
Holiday Rush Overwhelms Capacity
During peak holiday shopping periods like November-December, delivery companies get inundated with packages as ecommerce sales spike over 30% from average order volumes. The flood of packages swamps logistics networks over the holidays:
- In December 2022, over 34 million customers flocked to DHL for holiday package deliveries globally. Up almost 40% from 2021.
- With 200 aircraft and over 100,000 vehicles full to the brim, delivery timelines faced added pressure. DHL even chartered external carriers to assist.
- 12-20+ day delivery times became common to many destinations leading up to Christmas as this seasonal volume rush exceeded capacity.
<!-- -->| Month | Avg. Delivery Time | Peak Delivery Time |
|---|---|---|
| June | 2-5 days | |
| December | 3-7 days | 12-20+ days |
I hope this analysis gives you insight into the key reasons your DHL delivery might get delayed beyond estimated timeframes. With massive weather events, trade union protests, customs hurdles for international shipments, infrastructure constraints, and holiday peaks all impacting timelines, delays happen.
If your package gets seriously delayed beyond the maximum end of DHL‘s estimate without explanation, do reach out to their customer support team for package tracking assistance. They can further investigate stuck or misrouted items internally. For packages delayed over 2 weeks with no updates, investigation is warranted.
