Hermes Logistik eyes Europe and mulls over mail
Hermes Logistik, the leading German B2C challenger to DHL, plans to press ahead with European expansion this year and is considering whether to enter the domestic mail market should the minimum postal wage be vetoed.
The parcels carrier, a subsidiary of mail-order giant Otto Group, said it increased German revenues by 9% to EUR 1,041 million in 2007. Profit figures were not disclosed. Volumes grew to a new record with a 6% rise to 216 million parcels from business customers and a 21% increase to 28.5 million parcels from private customers.
Hermes has launched new products, including a furniture and large goods transport service, alongside its core parcels delivery service with the aim of growing into Germany’s largest consumer logistics provider after DHL.
After announcing last December that it had put on ice plans to enter the mail market in cooperation with TNT Post, Hermes said the March 7 decision by the Berlin administrative court against the minimum postal wage opened up a new perspective. “We will follow developments very closely and review whether the new situation is reliable enough to give competition in the postal market a truly fair chance,” commented managing director Hanjo Schneider.
In Austria, where it entered the market in mid-2007, Hermes now claims a market share of 38% for B2C parcels. It has gained European Commission approval to take a 30% stake in Italian B2C firm Porta a Porta by buying out Swiss Post. Through close cooperation with sister companies Parcelnet (UK) and Mondial Relay (France), Hermes Logistik has a group-wide market share of 22% of the estimated EUR 1.5 billion European private parcels market.
“In the major revenue markets, we must build up and control our own logistics networks in order to ensure a qualitative, high-value service,” Schneider said. “As part of our expansion strategy we will analyse the parcel market structures of more European countries, including Spain, in the coming months. We are still working on an umbrella brand concept in order to combine the group’s international activities and eventually market ourselves with a common name,” he added. This could lead to the formation of a European holding company.
