Deutsche Post plans to hive off part of transport service

Deutsche Post AG, the German post office, plans to contract out some of its transport activities, although it dismisses fears on the part of the trade union DPG that it plans to contract out all its transport activities with up to 12,000 redundancies. Deliveries to customers are to continue to be carried out by Deutsche Post employees, while the contracting out will take place in the transportation of parcels to distribution and collection depots (already, over 80 per cent of this area of activity is contracted out).

Meanwhile, it is reported that the EU competition commission could impose an eight-figure fine on Deutsche Post for alleged unlawful rebate agreements with customer businesses. At the present stage of the case, the EU commission is assuming that Deutsche Post exploited its dominant position on the parcel delivery market.