TNT uses strikes to put pressure on Royal Mail
TNT said the wave of industrial action hitting Royal Mail underlined the need for it to develop a full-blown rival service.
The Dutch-owned company, which uses Royal Mail to provide “final mile” postal delivery, said its customers were suffering disruption from the action by the union but it would not be suing the Post Office because it accepted that the state-owned group was protected by “force majored” contractual clauses.
TNT is the only company known to have been developing concrete plans to launch a complete rival service including the use of its own postal delivery staff. Its British boss, Nick Wells, said the impetus to proceed with such a project was higher than ever.
TNT has been undertaking full-scale trials of next day door-to-door deliveries in Glasgow and Manchester although the vast bulk of its daily mail is distributed to homes through Royal Mail under the specially licensed “final mile” system used by several private operators.
TNT’s group chief executive, Peter Bakker, said recently that Britain was one of its most important markets, showing healthy growth. The company is distributing more than 1 billion items of mail a year in the UK and many customers have migrated from Royal Mail, including telecoms group BT, which recently signed a contract worth up to GBP 90m.
Business Post, another private sector rival to Royal Mail, said last week that its turnover had risen 13 pct in the first quarter thanks to a strong performance from its UK Mail arm which has won lucrative contracts from the financial services sector. Recent recruit Prudential takes the number of corporate customers to 400.
Among other postal rivals, DX has claimed it stands to make at least GBP 10 m this year out of the strikes, while Citipost has been trumpeting its winning of new customers such as the Economist magazine, which turned to the company to provide postal services during the dispute.
An estimated 10 pct of the 20 billion items posted each year in the UK are now handled by private firms while Royal Mail is also struggling against an overall downturn in annual mail volumes.
