Postal Digest – News from PostNord, PostNL, Poste Italiane and Austrian Post

A round-up of more headlines from the postal market in Europe, including a new CFO for PostNord, a union deal in Austria, a Poste Italiane municipal deal and PostNL ecommerce win…

Henrik Rättzén appointed PostNord CFO

Scandinavian postal operator PostNord has appointed Henrik Rättzén as its next chief financial officer, to start on 7th August.

Rättzén, 47, has an MBA from Sweden’s Uppsala University, and joins PostNord from insurance group Codan Trygg Hansa, where he was Nordic CFO. Previously, he worked for KPMG, becoming a partner at the firm.

Rättzén replaces Mats Lönnqvist at PostNord, who resigned last month to focus on his other business interests.

Ukraine parliament adopts postal public procurement law

The Ukrainian Parliament has adopted a new law clarifying public procurement rules for postal services.

The bill “On peculiarities of public procurement of postal services” was approved this week, laying down procedures for public sector organisations to purchase postal services, stamps and envelopes from universal service provider, state-owned Ukrposhta.

The new regulation effectively clarifies Ukraine’s existing public procurement rules, where the country’s postal service provider has a recognised monopoly on the market. Public agencies now have to publish details of their postal purchases in the official state journal within one business day of a decision.

Austrian Post agrees 3.2% pay rise in union deal

Austrian Post has said several weeks of negotiations have succeeded in a fresh labour deal with the union of postal and telecommunications (GPF).

Subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board and the GPF National Executive, postal workers who are members can expect a 3.2% pay rise from next month, with overtime and allowances increasing by the same proportion.

The deal takes over from a previous agreement signed in 2009.

Poste Italiane signs deal with Lazio Region government

Poste Italiane has continued its fruitful efforts to tap up business in the government sector, with an agreement with the Regional Council of Lazio.

The two organisations pledged this week to create a major e-Government network, to simplify and speed up citizen access to government services including payment services and the provision of small business loans and grants. Poste Italiane will use its logistics network and IT infrastructure to support the project, including storage for physical and digital documents.

Massimo Sarmi, the Poste Italiane CEO, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity. We are honoured to contribute to the innovation of these services to make the Lazio region a centre of excellence.”

PostNL unit provides fulfillment for construction wholesaler

Dutch construction material wholesaler Bouwmaat has outsourced its online order processing and fulfillment to TopPak, the fulfillment unit of postal operator PostNL.

TopPak will provide all logistics for small item purchases made through the Bouwmaat website, manage inventory and coordinate picking and packing as well as managing invoices.

The PostNL subsidiary has a 14,500 square metre warehouse in Houten, the Netherlands, where 9,000 different products are in stock, where is manages the fulfillment process for various companies.