Spirit of coopetition
Speakers at the World Mail & Express conference have been looking at ways that posts and carriers can work together to solve the challenges of final mile and cross border delivery. Speaking during the open day at the conference, which is taking place in Paris this week, Martin Kreiter of Hermes and Yves Delmas, CEO of DPD Europe, both envisaged that there would probably be a need for more collaboration and consolidation for the final mile in the urban environment, in order to deal with the twin challenges of the growing volume of parcels and the pressure to reduce inner city traffic congestion and pollution.
They acknowledged that developing collaborative systems may require some delicate negotiations but – as Kreiter said – “the industry needs to find solutions, or we will be regulated”.
Zeiting Liu from the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport (IFSTTAR) gave an insight into some of the collaborative logistics initiatives that already been developed and trialled in Paris, London and other cities worldwide.
The theme of this year’s World Mail & Express conference is connect.transform.deliver. The opening sessions of the conference looked at the transformational programmes currently underway by key postal operators, with presentations from: Nicolas Routier, Deputy CEO, Strategy and Development at Le Groupe La Poste; Thomas Baldry, Senior Vice President Deutsche Post International, Deutsche Post; Bernard Leong, Head of Postal Network and Digital Services at Singapore Post; Mark Harrison, Head of Markets at International Post Corporation (IPC); and Krzysztof Gorski of Polish Post.
In the afternoon session, Liu’s presentation drilled down to look at the nitty-gritty of setting up logistics centres, warehouses and distribution centres in a cityscape. Meanwhile, Professor Herbert-Michael Zapf zoomed out for the Big Picture, and considered how logistics companies can play their part in helping to make globalisation and cross-border e-commerce a force for good.
Patrick Brand, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Global SMB Products and Strategy at Pitney Bowes, gave an insight into how players in the industry can position themselves to reap the benefits of digital transformation, while Darko Atijas, Vice President EMEA at Temando, considered how global consumers are shaping the future of post.
George Hooper, Business Development Manager at Lockheed Martin, looked at innovations in sortation. Hooper pointed out that e-commerce is not only driving a huge growth in the number of parcels now being delivered, but it can also lead to a greater variety of parcels. Parcels now come in all shapes and sizes, and sortation systems need to be able to cope with this diversity – whilst maintaining, and indeed raising, their throughput.
Jorge Ibarraran, Post Office Business Development Lead at Ria Money Transfer, looked at key trends and opportunities in money transfer. The most important trend seems to be that the overall money transfer market is expected to keep growing – and it represents a good opportunity for posts looking to diversify their offerings and find new sources of revenue.
The final speaker in yesterdays’ conference sessions, Daniel Weiner, CFO with Cargo sous terrain, gave an overview on the ambitious programme to construct an underground cargo and parcel logistics system for Switzerland.
The WMX delegates then had opportunity to celebrate some of the big success stories in the industry, by attending the annual World Post & Parcel Awards dinner and presentation ceremony. There will be a full Post&Parcel report on last night’s winners in a separate story.
Today’s (8 June) conference programme got underway with a session focusing on the opportunities in the cross border market.
Botond Szebeny, Secretary General of PostEurop, looked at how the posts are connecting with customers and partners; transforming their business strategies; and – of course – working to deliver the growing volume of cross-border parcels.
Most interestingly Szebeny outlined PostEurop’s position on the European Commission’s proposals for regulating the cross-border business. The key items were that PostEurop believes that a transparency of prices is acceptable, but there is “no justification for terminal rates”, as this involves highly sensitive business data; and PostEurope also believes that there is “no justification for a sector-specific regulation of third party access”.
Atul Bhakul, Managing Director of One World Express, gave an overview of the sometimes bewildering multiplicity of choices – and barriers – in the cross border business.
Alex Alexander, Director, Global Business Development at Endicia, gave a presentation on leveraging technology to reach new markets and Lionel Berthe, Chief Strategy and E-Commerce Officer at Asendia Management, also gave his perspective on cross border strategies.
The remaining sessions in today’s programme will look in the more detail at the final mile, and look at issues such as the impact of Brexit and the importance of cybersecurity.
