Icelandic Volcano

The global PCB and PCA industry is suffering unparalleled disruption due to the totally exceptional circumstances of the eruption of Mount Eyjafjallajokull. A major proportion of PCB's used in the world today are manufactured in China and the immediate effect of the eruption will have a serious impact on the PCB industry as a whole.

We are currently experiencing disruption in deliveries from our two main factories in Shenzhen and Shijiazhuang. We are doing everything possible to expedite existing orders from these factories and we are working closely with our main carrier, DHL to resolve the problem.

New orders are being executed by our UK facility until the present situation has been resolved. However, the prices and timescale options offered by our Instant Price Calculator are not necessarily accurate and there are limits on available capacity.

Please email or upload your gerber files for a quote and we will respond with price and available timescale options.

Update 16:24 Monday 19th April

Sky News reports all UK airspace will be open by 18:00pm Tomorrow, Tuesday. For further information, please visit http://www.news.sky.com/skynews/

Update 15:08 Tuesday 20th April

Tecbridge Circuits is still receiving consignments from our two factories by DHL despite the continued closure of Heathrow Airport. Consignments are being re-routed variously through Singapore, Bahrain and Leipzig. DHL report shipments outside Asia entering Europe may take 3-5 days longer than usual. Our first consignment was shipped on Tuesday 13th April and arrived safely today, Tuesday 19th April. Consignments are expected to return to the usual 2 days from Factory to UK shortly after Heathrow reopens. Please refer to us here at Tecbridge for the latest information concerning existing orders or if you are contemplating new orders.

Update 12:06 Wednesday 21st April

Although airspace restrictions have been lifted, it is expected that priority for landing slots at Heathrow will be given to passenger aircraft, and some disruption is expected for several days. Consignments to UK continue to be routed via Leipzig rather than directly to Heathrow (as normal). However, we expect the adverse effect on delivery timescales to diminish over the next few days as DHL and other operators are able to clear the backlog and return to normal flight schedules.

Aftermath - 26th April

With Airspace re-opening and the immediate crisis over we can look back to learn from the experience and re-evaluate our exposure to failure of transport routes from our Factories to UK. The worst delay we experienced was a delay of 7 calendar days for a consignment which normally takes 2-3. Both DHL and FedEx found alternative transport routes into UK using a combination of European airport hubs and overland transport.

Although this does not eliminate the risk of us fulfilling order late if a similar natural disaster should reoccur, it does prove there are viable contingency plans in place by our couriers which can greatly mitigate the consequences in the unlikely event of a similar event in the future.