Ukrposhta scoops 3 World Post & Parcel Awards

Many congratulations to all the World Post & Parcel Awards winners for 2023 which were announced last night at WMX Europe Conference in Tallinn, Estonia. 

And the winners are:

 

Best Technology Strategy sponsored by Zonos   

Winner: Correos – Spain for their Correos Market, an omnichannel marketplace 

 

Commitment to Sustainability sponsored by PostEurop

Winner: Singapore Post for their Greening the Future of Post policy 

 

Philatelic Campaign of the Year sponsored by MER  

Winner: Ukrposhta for their Ukrainian Postage Stamps 

 

Postal Evolution  

Winner: Correos – Spain  – for its Correos Frio project 

 

Postal Operator sponsored by Eurora  

Winner: Ukrposhta 

 

Startup of the Year sponsored by One World Express 

Winner: Digicust

 

Best Alternative Delivery sponsored by Palletways 

 Winner: Brazil Post 

 

Best Innovation Strategy sponsored by Post & Parcel  

Winner:   Singapore Post for their POPDrop (Smart Posting Box) 

 

Industry Leadership  

Winner: Igor Smelyansky, CEO, Director General of Ukrposhta 

 

The winning initiatives 

Best Technology Strategy

Correos – Spain designed Correos Market with the aim of supporting Spanish companies, mainly in rural areas, offering them a marketing channel without commissions or other expenses, and giving them the digital tools to sell online.  

 As a result an exclusive mobile App was created,  offering consumers a constant transactional channel.   

Commitment to Sustainability

Singapore Post recognised its responsibility to play its part for the planet, one delivery at a time. Its target is to hit Net-zero carbon (Scope 1 and 2 emission) by 2030 for operations.   

SingPost’s strategy is to drive adoption of carbon efficient deliveries for a greener future of e-commerce by tackling a number of key areas. Initiatives include: strengthening their network of Pick Up and Drop off points to drive adoption of carbon efficient deliveries modes for the merchants and consumers; providing a Fully electric-powered fleet for post and parcel delivery by 2026  and  providing eco-friendly and sustainable packaging for merchants to reduce waste generated from packaging. 

Philatelic Campaign of the Year

On March 1, four days after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, instead of celebrating the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian modern postage stamps, Ukrposhta announced a competition for the sketch of the stamp “Russian warship, go …!”, illustrating the phrase symbolizing Ukraine’s fighting against the invaders. On March 8, the voting started in social media, in which more than 7 thousand people participated. After 43 days, on April 12, Ukrposhta issued the postage stamp with the circulation of 1,000,000 (8 times higher than the average circulation of art stamps in the past 25 years). Two days later, the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed the russian cruiser Moskva featured in the stamp. The next day, the demand for the stamp sky-rocketed, and Ukrposhta had to introduce restrictions of the number of stamps sold per person. Ukrposhta launched sales on its upgraded online store and domestic marketplaces and opened its official stores on Amazon and eBay. The “Russian warship, go…!” stamp became the most expensive and demanded modern postage stamp, starting a new stage of Ukrainian philately – the stage of prosperity. 

Postal Evolution

Correos – Spain has created a transport solution with controlled temperature called Correos Frio project . The innovative solution uses  refrigerated vehicles and isothermal packaging that allows to keep the cold chain of refrigerated shipments for up to 120 hours. Through IOT technology, the company is able to get real-time information on the temperature and humidity of the contents of these shipments. This allows the operator to run an alert system that keeps professionals informed of any incident during transport, allowing special protocols to be activated and minimizing risks in the distribution and storage of medicines and other controlled temperature products.  

Postal Operator of the Year Award

In 2022, Ukrposhta showed how a postal operator can work under the conditions of war, with continuous shelling and power cuts, to develop exports when the airspace is closed in order to support Ukrainian entrepreneurs (Ukrposhta resumed export transportation a week after the start of the full-scale invasion), to implement governmental social projects of business relocation, delivery of pensions and financial aid from international organizations, delivery of humanitarian aid from abroad. It is worth noting that despite significant losses (due to the war, Ukrposhta has lost $55 million in assets), the company has not generated operating losses and Ukrposhta only suspended operations for one day on February 24.   

Start-up of the year

Digicust  has created a set of virtual customs robots integrated into an AI-based customs software called Digital Customs. These robots learn from customs specialists and officers to perform customs clearance. The expansion of ISC2 makes the assistive technology of customs fulfillment vitally important. With their innovation, this company is sustainably digitalizing the customs industry around the world and improving the current supply chain in speed, efficiency, and safety.   

Best Alternative Delivery

Brazil Post’s new logistics model offers Brazilian entrepreneurs support in warehousing, order fulfilment, packaging and distribution, simplifying day-to-day operational activities and allowing them to gain more speed in managing their business.  

Best Innovation Strategy

Singapore Post has created a standalone, automated self-service drop-off smart posting box fitted with in-built trackability, allowing merchants and consumers to enjoy end-to-end tracking capabilities for their packages. Delivery of items from the smart posting box are made to parcel lockers, complementing the carbon efficient first-mile service with the most carbon efficient way to fulfil last-mile delivery.   

Industry Leadership

Igor Smelyansky, CEO, Director General of Ukrposhta, has been responsible for maintaining postal services across Ukraine and leading around 70,000 postal staff during a full-scale war, in the face of numerous challenges including bombs and missiles, significantly destroying infrastructure. Under life-threatening and incredibly difficult circumstances, he has kept his organisation operational, his staff motivated and, through regular interaction with other postal operators abroad, also internationally supported. And on top of that he has issued globally recognised defiant stamps to mark key moments in the war, depicting resilience, courage and incredible determination. His relentless engagement for Ukrposhta and unswayable resolve to provide essential infrastructure services under war-time conditions is both outstanding and inspiring.