Poor start to South Africa’s bid to regulate courier firms

ONLY about 5% of the thousands of courier companies that should have applied for licences under new regulations have done so, according to estimates by the South African Express Parcel Association.

This signals a poor start to government’s efforts to regulate the industry.

Companies transporting items that weigh less than 30kg had to apply for licences by May under new regulations introduced mainly to protect the Post Office from unfair competition.

The Postal Regulator was expected to issue the first batch of licences at a ceremony on Friday.

Garry Marshall, executive director of the association, said yesterday that all the large operators such as Fedex, DHL, TNT and Sun Couriers had applied for licences.

They account for about 80% of the industry, which has turnover of more than R6bn a year.

But Marshall said there were thousands of small operators that probably had not registered.

The new regulations were introduced following a protracted battle between postal authorities and the industry, which kicked against regulation.

Initial proposals required courier companies to pay up to R550000 a year for a licence. This fee was later brought down to R500 a year, said Marshall.

The initial regulations also stipulated that any item weighing less than 1kg could be carried only by the state postal service.

This proposal was amended.

Marshall also said that aviation security was the biggest concern.

He said globally the express parcel association grew about 15% a year, and about 20% a year in SA.