PERMANENT secretary in the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology (MSET) Carol Palmer has moved to assure the public that disruptions to mail services which began almost a week ago, and which saw Jamaicans not being able to send or receive mails, should end by Friday.

The gridlock in the postal services operation stem from the ongoing concerns for noxious fumes at the Central Sorting Office (CSO), which saw the Jamaica Customs Service moving its operation from the CSO South Camp Road location to the old Queens Warehouse at Norman Manley International Airport.

According to a well-placed Jamaica Observer source, the decision to move came from the regular complaints, staff getting sick and staff threatening legal action with regards to the matter.

“Customs decided to move its operation to where Queens was and merged Queens with Queens 230 at Spanish Town Road making room for the operations of CSO to be moved to the airport,” the individual said.

Further, the source said the postal services received 25 days notice of the move from Customs, but on Monday only Customs workers showed up, bringing the processing of mail to a halt.

When the Observer contacted Palmer, she too said the challenge came about when Customs services relocated its operations to the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

“There is a challenge with the modernisation of the Customs services and having to move all its operations to the Norman Manley International Airport. Postal services will no longer be provided at the Central Sorting Office on South Camp Road and the place from which the postal services will operate is being finalised for them to operate.

“We will have the issue fixed before the week ends. I have already reached out to the financial secretary. I have also brought the minister in the picture and we have quarterly review today and if necessary I will be going out to the Norman Manley International Airport on Friday to satisfy myself that the facilities have been created for the postal service to do what it is supposed to do. The ministry is doing what it has to do to have the matter resolved,” Palmer said.

These challenges daunt the postal services at a time when it should be transforming into an efficient, customer-centric and profitable system.

Plans to upgrade the 350-year-old postal system includes a boosting of the digital connectivity and transportation infrastructure of the Postal Corporation of Jamaica. A total of 24 post office locations throughout the island have also been selected to be renovated.

When the Observer contacted Lincoln Allen, postmaster general/CEO of the Post and Telecommunications Department he said he was in a meeting and asked to be contacted later in the day.

Subsequent calls to his phone went unanswered.