Dutch postal service PostNL is expecting an increase in the number of parcels of 60% to 70% in the run up to Sinterklaas and Christmas as the Coronavirus crisis boosts online gift giving.

The service had already increased its capacity by 40% and the approaching festive season will see that grow by about 30% more, PostNL logistics manager Liesbeth Kaashoek told website Nu.nl.

‘Before the coronavirus crisis we delivered some 900,000 parcels a day. From March that increased to a million a day and now we’re heading for a 1.5 million on peak days,’ Kaashoek said.

The upcoming Sinterklaas and Christmas celebrations are the main drivers but campaigns such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday also boost parcel traffic, Kaashoek said.

She also said PostNL will increase the number of delivery vans and employ a thousand extra postal workers to cope with the extra work.

Last year ‘a small percentage’ of Christmas cards and parcels arrived at their destination late.

The delay was caused by the volume of cards and parcels and the fact that many Christmas cards were posted just before the festive season started, a PostNL spokesman said at the time.

To avoid a repeat PostNL and webshops will be encouraging clients to order their presents in plenty of time.