The world’s Posts can profit from continued growth in parcel volumes driven by e-commerce andbenefit from international initiatives to improve interconnectivity, the head of the Universal
Postal Union (UPU) told CEP-Research in an interview.The latest figures released for today’s World Post Day show that worldwide domestic parcelvolumes increased by 7.9% to 6.5 billion items in 2007 compared to 2002. International volumes rose1.4% to 44 million items over the same period. The parcels growth was largely driven by e-commerceas more consumers shopped online. In contrast, domestic mail volumes grew by a low 0.3% to 433billion items over the five years, while international mail dropped 2.6% to 5.5 billion items.
“Growth will come from the B2C sector, while in B2B the private couriers are well-placed,”UPU director general Edouard Dayan said on the sidelines of last week’s Courier and ParcelLogistics conference in London. “There are good opportunities for developing the parcels market inconnection with e-commerce. In principle, Posts are well-placed due to their position as universalservice providers. They have consumers’ trusts and the established brands.”
E-commerce and online shopping, in particular, had changed the way supply chains areorganised, Dayan said. “Increasingly, these supply chains depend on faster, more frequent andreliable delivery options of smaller consignments over greater distances.”
The picture is more mixed in the express market, according to Dayan. “The differences betweenEMS, parcels and small packets are not always clearly defined,” he pointed out. According to UPUfigures issued this summer, the 149 Posts in the UPU EMS Cooperative increased their expressvolumes by 23% between 2004 and 2006, with an average 88% on-time delivery performance.
Under the new world postal strategy, the UPU will focus on improved interconnectivity toreduce technical barriers between the world’s Posts, governance issues and development activitiesin certain world regions. Interconnectivity will cover areas such as better end-to-endtrack-and-trace through a common IT standard, and EDI interfaces with airlines via IATA and customsauthorities through the WCO. Payment services and online services will be two other importantgrowth areas.
