First Latin American Mail and Express event delivers success in Rio

Senior delegates from more than 20 countries throughout the Americas and elsewhere gathered in Rio at the beginning of December for the first ever World Mail & Express event to be held in Latin America. They were treated to a fascinating two days of debate, discussion and networking at the Sheraton Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, with an international array of podium speakers sharing their experiences and ideas for the industry’s future.

Senior executives from conference host sponsors Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telegrafos expressed themselves delighted with the success of the whole event. After Brazilian Post President and CEO Carlos Henrique Almeida Custodio had opened the summit by welcoming everybody to Rio, a succession of key speakers entertained those present with their perspectives on competing and winning. With countries such as Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and the USA also represented on the podium, delegates were treated to a range of views and experiences from across the region. International viewpoints were also pooled by speakers from elsewhere, including Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the UK, with sharing best practice and lessons learnt very much to the fore.

Address complexity and private operator dominance
One of the major highlights of the conference was the ''In the hotseat'' session, when the Chairmen and CEO's from six of the region's major operating companies assembled to answer questions and discuss issues raised by the delegates from the floor. Among the key themes to emerge from this and other keynote sessions, two particular talking points caught the delegates’ imagination. The various methods for tackling address complexity across the region through the use of GPS and technology solutions provided for fascinating debate, with tales of individual postal deliverers scanning items at the delivery point and feeding this information back to a central hub.

Delegates were also interested to hear evidence of the low market share (compared to their international counterparts) amongst national operators in South America. Outside Brazil and Chile particularly, it is clear that private mail operators collectively have much larger shares of the letter delivery market than do the national posts.

Neil Jackson, Chief Executive of global mail, express and logistics consultancy Triangle, was very pleased with the outcome of the conference: ''Our fourth World Mail & Express event dedicated to the issues and opportunities in the post and parcels industry in the Americas was a superb convention from all points of view. A large number of senior directors and executives from both public and private operators were able to meet with others in the industry, to learn from each other and plan the way forward for mutual benefit. We are very grateful to our hosts Brazilian Post and our other major sponsors for their assistance and support in bringing this event to Latin America, and I am sure we will return in the not-too-distant future.''

Further information
Anyone interested in discussing the commercial opportunities available at future World Mail & Express events, in America, Europe, the Middle East or elsewhere, should contact Triangle via [email protected], while more information on all Triangle events can be found at www.triangle.eu.com/conferences

Notes for Editors:

• World Mail & Express (WMX) events are organised by Triangle Management Services, based in the UK;
• Mail and Express events have also been held in the UK and France this year; in 2007, a number of conferences and awards evenings will be staged around the world, including Dubai and London;
• Press delegates are welcome to attend all WMX events;
• Further information can be obtained from the Marketing Department at Triangle on +44 (0)870 950 7900.

Triangle Management Services Ltd, founded in 1984, is today the pre-eminent independent specialist management services company within the global mail, express and logistics sectors. Triangle offers the following services to clients: Recruitment, Market Research, Consultancy, Conferences and Mergers and Acquisitions – all of which focus primarily on the mail and express industry sectors.