German consumer parcels operator Hermes again outgrew the market last year thanks to thecontinuing boom in e-commerce shipments and will continue to invest in its network for future
growth.Hermes Logistik Gruppe Deutschland GmbH increased net turnover from its parcels, mail and bulkyitems businesses by 6.6% to €840 million in the year ending February 28, 2010. Volumes from thedelivery services increased 4.6% to 266 million shipments. The figures do not include Hermes’foreign companies and the three independent firms Hermes Fulfilment GmbH, Hermes Europe GmbH andHermes Transport Logistics GmbH.
“We have recognised the industry trends of e-commerce, digitalisation andenvironmentally-friendly logistics at an early stage and used them effectively,” commented HarmutIlek, managing director Germany. “Even in the difficult financial year of 2009 we were thus able toincrease turnover once again and expand volumes significantly.”
The core Hermes Parcel Service increased B2C and C2C volumes by about 10% to 215.7 millionshipments last year. Every second parcel delivered by Hermes was generated through the internet,and the number of business users of its online delivery offering ProfiPaketService went up by25%.
“Our business has clearly profited from the fact that private consumption remained stable at ahigh level in 2009 despite the economic crisis and that consumers continued to demand strongly theproducts of our customers,” Ilek commented.
Many German business customers plan to take advantage of Hermes’ extension of its Europeandelivery network and cooperation with sister companies in Britain, Italy and Austria as part oftheir European expansion, the company noted.
The bulky goods delivery service also grew last year with a 13% increase to 2.2 millionshipments, Hermes said. In the mail sector, characterised by declining volumes, primeMail, the massmailings joint venture with Swiss Post, aims to stabilise volumes with new services such aswarehousing and mailing preparation.
Looking ahead, Ilek confirmed that Hermes will continue to invest in sustainable growth afterinvesting more than €100 million over the last three years in infrastructure as the new sortinghubs at Hückelhoven and Friedwald as well as in new services. “We are currently spending more than€35 million on the new main hub at Langenhagen near Hanover, which will go into service at thestart of 2011,” he said. A further €18 million is being invested in a head office extension inHamburg while the facilities at Haldensleben in Saxony-Anhalt and Altenkunstadt in Bavaria arebeing modernised.
The growth is also creating new jobs. After increasing employee numbers from 3,084 in 2008 to3,169 last year, a further 300 staff will be taken on this year, including 150 at the newLangenhagen hub.
In terms of environmental strategy, Hermes wants to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings by 3.5%and from transportation by 2% by 2020 in comparison with 2006/07. In 2009, Hermes had an averageCO2 emission of 0.26kg per delivered shipment.
“Our aim is to reduce emissions and not just to compensate them. Moreover, we don’t believe itis right to pass on environmental protection costs to customers or clients. Logistics companiesmust take charge of their ecological responsibility,” Ilek declared. Future measures will includetelematics solutions to plan delivery rounds and energy generation from bio-mass at new sites,while Hermes will also test electrically-powered vehicles this year.
