Irish parcels polarised
Research done into the Irish parcels and packet markets for 2002 has shown a highly polarised market, where 86% of international shipments are handled by the top 7 carriers. The findings are reported for the 1st quarter of 2002 on the basis of 375 telephone interviews with Irish shippers. The ‘PacTrac‘ survey, conducted by Andrew Lester & Associates, will monitor the market quarter by quarter throughout the year.
Other findings within the report show that the Irish Postal service operators, An Post and SDS, hold a far more dominant position in the market (20% market share) than is the case of postal operators in the UK.
73% of respondents used one carrier for international shipments, and under 30% used two or more different carriers for international work.
For international consignments between March and May, 49% of total volume was destined for the UK, with 16% to the US, 7% to Germany, 6% to France and 2.4% to the Netherlands.
Over three quarters of shippers sent the majority of their shipments domestically, and this market was more polarised still, with 6 carriers accounting for 82% of overall volume.
The survey also found that TNT handled the heaviest average parcel (14.7 kg) and DHL had the highest incidence of price rises.
