Dutch parcel delivery company General Logistics Systems Belgium N.V. (GLS) has opened its 50th parcel office in Austria, the company said on September 16, 2005.
A total 450 more offices are planned, 40 of them in the short-term. Of the 50 offices 30 are integrated in retail chains and the remaining 10 are in GLS depots.
The company is assessing the possibility of opening offices in filling stations.
Read MoreGeneral Logistics Systems (GLS), Europe’s third-largest parcel delivery service, is planning to expand on the German market. The company wishes to have an extensive network of its own branches throughout Europe in future, and is aiming to raise the number of outlets it operates in various retail stores in Germany from 2,500 to 5,000 within the next year. In particular, the company is hoping to lure private customers away from German postal service operator Deutsche Post.
Read MoreMeanwhile, the liberalisation of the swiss parcels market last year has driven competition to the heart of the business ultimately leading to a 2% decrease in parcels volumes for swisspost last year, according to Daniel Baettig chief financial officer.
Read MoreTNT has expressed interest in acquiring Royal Mail’s European parcel unit GLS Holding, among other global targets, to expand its express delivery network and increase market share. Although Royal Mail has yet to make a comment, a possible sell-off could work well with the group’s plans for semi-privatization.
According to the German magazine WirtschaftsWoche, TNT may be planning a series of acquisitions, one of which could be Royal Mail’s subsidiary General Logistics Systems (GLS), CEO Peter Bakker said in an interview.
Read MoreTNT NV may soon acquire a shipping company in Asia to expand its network there and is interested in taking over Royal Mail Group PLC’s unit GLS Holding, German weekly magazine Wirtschafts Woche said in a report to be published tomorrow, citing chief executive Peter Bakker.
‘The US is UPS- and Fedex-land,’ Bakker told the magazine in an interview. ‘And whoever thinks, as Deutsche Post does, he can be profitable there with a 6-8 pct market share is wrong.’
Deutsche Post World Net AG’s package delivery arm DHL last month said it does not want to chase US market share from rival UPS and Federal Express and is reining in its ambitions in North America.
Bakker also said he can imagine taking over Royal Mail’s GLS unit as an independent parcel service, adding the company is ‘looking into every interesting opportunity for an acquisition’.
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