Interview: "Posts can profit from parcels growth" – UPU
The world’s Posts can profit from continued growth in parcel volumes driven by e-commerce and benefit from international initiatives to improve interconnectivity, the head of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) told CEP-Research in an interview.
The latest figures released for the World Post Day show that worldwide domestic parcel volumes increased by 7.9pct to 6.5 billion items in 2007 compared to 2002. International volumes rose 1.4pct to 44 million items over the same period. The parcels growth was largely driven by e-commerce as more consumers shopped online. In contrast, domestic mail volumes grew by a low 0.3pct to 433 billion items over the five years, while international mail dropped 2.6pct to 5.5 billion items.
“Growth will come from the B2C sector, while in B2B the private couriers are well-placed,” UPU director general Edouard Dayan said on the sidelines of last week’s Courier and Parcel Logistics conference in London. “There are good opportunities for developing the parcels market in connection with e-commerce. In principle, Posts are well-placed due to their position as universal service providers. They have consumers’ trusts and the established brands.”
E-commerce and online shopping, in particular, had changed the way supply chains are organised, Dayan said. “Increasingly, these supply chains depend on faster, more frequent and reliable delivery options of smaller consignments over greater distances.”
The picture is more mixed in the express market, according to Dayan. “The differences between EMS, parcels and small packets are not always clearly defined,” he pointed out. According to UPU figures issued this summer, the 149 Posts in the UPU EMS Cooperative increased their express volumes by 23pct between 2004 and 2006, with an average 88pct on-time delivery performance.
Under the new world postal strategy, the UPU will focus on improved interconnectivity to reduce technical barriers between the world’s Posts, governance issues and development activities in certain world regions. Interconnectivity will cover areas such as better end-to-end track-and-trace through a common IT standard, and EDI interfaces with airlines via IATA and customs authorities through the WCO. Payment services and online services will be two other important growth areas.
