Dutch government to open up mail market
The Dutch government plans to open up its mail market on 1 April 2009, ending TNT’s partial monopoly.
The Dutch government plans to open up its mail market on April 1 2009, ending TNT’s partial monopoly.
The move will open up the last part of the Dutch mail market, in letters of up to 50 grams in the Netherlands, which was estimated to be worth about €1bn ($1.3 billion) in 2007.
Shares in TNT, Europe’s second largest mail and express group after Deutsche Post, closed down 4.3% at €12.64 in line with DJ Stoxx industrial goods and services index, which lost 4.5%.
Until now, TNT has held the monopoly on the market, while competing with Dutch mail company Sandd and Deutsche Post unit Selekt Mail for other items.
“By ending this monopoly, the choice for companies and non-profit organisations increases, they can send post more cheaply and it creates more chances for new companies,” the Dutch cabinet said in a statement.
The Dutch government postponed the decision to open the sector in November until TNT had held more talks on workplace conditions with competitors.
“TNT is prepared for full liberalisation and has included the impact in the volume prognoses given at the recent publication of the annual results 2008,” TNT said in a statement.
TNT cut its dividend on 16 February after reporting a quarterly profit drop due to a sharp volume decline at its international express delivery unit and it expected an increasing rate of decline of addressed volumes in the Netherlands.
The government has always had two pre-conditions for any decision to liberalise its domestic market; that labour conditions are adequate and that there is no impediment to competition in neighbouring Germany, where TNT is active.
The cabinet said on Friday that progress on meeting the pre-conditions, such as labour agreements with unions and the ending of a tax advantage for Deutsche Post in Germany, had made it possible to come to the decision for full liberalisation.
The Dutch senate still has to discuss the cabinet’s proposal, the government said.
Under European Union regulations, the market must be fully liberalised by the start of 2011.
