been warned their ordered goods must reach their US address by December 17 to guarantee delivery to Bermuda by Christmas.

The message has been issued by Bermuda-based courier company IBC, which runs ZipX.

IBC president and chief executive Glen Smith said ZipX had been an overwhelming success, and that shopping over the Internet had increased tremendously this Christmas.

IBC has leased aircraft with a capacity for 6,000 pounds for its own, ZipX and UPS parcels, but it is currently handling 7,000-9,000 pounds of goods a day.

The excess goods are having to be placed on commercial flights, but because the flights are so busy, the goods cannot be guaranteed a place.

IBC has chartered two extra flights for December 11 and 18 to handle the extra business.

ZipX, which was launched last month, gives customers in Bermuda a US shipping address, allowing easier ordering from catalogues and the Internet.

Mr. Smith said: "This is one of the busiest times of the year for courier and air express companies.

"The success of ZipX shows that e-commerce shopping has definitely increased this Christmas. Many overseas companies even ship their products already wrapped for Christmas.'' Referring to the additonal charter flight on December 18, Mr. Smith added: "It is imperative that our ZipX customers have their orders delivered to their US shipping address by December 17. Otherwise, we will not be able to guarantee delivery before Christmas.'' He said that IBC has grown to be an 18 hour a day, six day a week operation.

The company will also be delivering on Sundays to cope with the festive rush.