Heatwave causes delayed parcels
Amsterdam - During the peak of last week's heatwave, 59% of the shipments that carriers collected from warehouses on Thursday 25 June reached consumers late. The high temperatures and warm nights during the heatwave went hand in hand with longer delivery times. The findings come from the Pakketradar by logistics SaaS platform Wuunder. On that peak day, delays were 42 percentage points higher than June's monthly average of 17%.
Delays move with the temperature
In the first half of June, when temperatures were still moderate, the delay rate fluctuated between 9% and 22%. As the mercury climbed in the final week of the month, delays rose with it. After that, on 26 June the delay rate dropped back to 13%, below the monthly average of 17%. Another factor in the delays is the higher parcel volume driven by holiday pay (vakantiegeld), which is paid out in May or June.
Different pickup behaviour at collection points
The heat affected not only delivery speed but also the volume arriving at collection points. On the hottest days in particular, the number of shipments routed to a parcelshop fell: on 25 June this was 19% below the monthly average, and on 26 June as much as 44% lower. Across the whole heatwave week, 3% fewer shipments arrived at a parcelshop than the June average.
Jeroen Gehlen, founder of Wuunder: "Our data shows that extremely hot days coincide with significantly higher delays. That isn't necessarily surprising. After all, the safety of delivery drivers comes first, and carriers rightly take action when temperatures rise to extremes. Even so, it shows how sensitive the logistics chain is to peak load. By giving consumers more spread in delivery moments at the checkout, for example through the GreenChoice delivery option, webshops can help flatten those peaks. Consumers, carriers and webshops all benefit."
The data is based on domestic shipments within the Netherlands during June 2026. It concerns shipments delivered to service points and consumers. The analysis looks at the total Dutch parcel flow and is not intended to compare individual carriers with one another.