One of the primary responsibilities of a carrier is to deliver the correct cargo on time. Due to the heavy traffic handled by a carrier everyday, there will be unfortunate incidents that include mix-ups and delays in shipping.

As a carrier, when any of these circumstances happen, you should immediately extend a sincere apology to your clients. A letter of apology for a shipping delay or error is written to express your regret for the unfavorable delay and mix-up.

The purpose of the letter is to regain the confidence and continued patronage of your customers; hence, it should be written in humility. You have to assure your customers that you are in control of the situation.

Sample Letter #1

From:
Parker How
MV Princess
123 Park Avenue
Antioch, California 00022
222-555-1000

To:
Oscar Rockefellow
321 42nd Avenue
Antioch, California 00022

Dear Mr. Rockefellow,

Thank you for informing us about the mix-up of your cargo. The boxes containing your materials were mistakenly labeled which caused it to be delivered incorrectly. We are contacting the recipient of your cargo to have rerouted and be delivered it to you as soon as possible. We are very sorry for this incident.

Please understand that the error in shipping and delivery was committed unintentionally. There had been unusual volume of cargoes but this is not enough reason to justify the mistake so we are taking full responsibility for it.

Again, MV Princess would like to apologize for any inconvenience.

Parker How

Sample Letter #2

From:
Parker How
123 Park Avenue
Antioch, California 00022
222-555-1000

To:
Oscar Rockefellow
321 42nd Avenue
Antioch, California 00022

Dear Mr. Rockefellow,

Please accept our apology for the delay in shipping your costume. We know that the delay had caused not only inconvenience but trouble to the performing team. We heard that you tried to order new sets of costume to make sure that you can make it on the competition. For this matter, we are very sorry.

We admit that the delivery was one day late. But we hope that you can still use the costumes in your upcoming competition. Our delivery truck had an accident and there was no way to get the costumes on time. Our company regrets that this rare incident happened.

We appreciate your business with us, and to make up for our mistake we will take 50% off on this shipments invoice. If you have any questions, please let us know. Please accept our apology.

Parker How