Posten Norden will invest SEK 2.5 billion (€273 million) over the next few years in a newterminal structure in Sweden to cope with volume changes, improve productivity and also reduce its
environmental footprint by transporting more items by rail.The new structure, which mostly affects northern Sweden, will increase production flexibilityand allow Posten Norden to counter anticipated dramatic changes in letter and parcel volumes. Itwill also increase competitiveness, improve service and allow the transport of more mail items byrail as opposed to air and road, the company announced.
The Swedish-Danish postal operator aims to achieve annual savings of over SEK 300 million (€33million) as of 2014. The changes will affect slightly more than 2,000 employees, and the number ofemployees will be reduced by just over 500 over a four-year period. Negotiations with unionorganisations will commence immediately.
“Posten Norden is making a significant investment in a new terminal structure. This willstrengthen our competitiveness and improve our ability to fulfil our universal service obligation.This is also an environmentally sound investment, one that will enable us to increase the share ofmail items we send by rail and thereby reduce our carbon dioxide emissions,” said Lars G Nordström,President and CEO of Posten Norden.
Referring to the staff cutbacks, he added: “Posten Norden has a tradition of managing personnelchanges in a responsible manner, and we will continue to do so. In recent years, we’ve adjusted ournumber of employees to sharply reduced letter volumes through natural attrition and adjustmentprogrammes, which have worked very well.”
Two new letter terminals will be set up adjacent to main railway lines, one each in Hallsberg,central Sweden, and Rosersberg, north of Stockholm. A new pallet and parcel terminal will beestablished in northern Stockholm. In the northern Swedish region of Norrland, investments will bemade in a new logistics structure with offices in the coastal towns of Sundsvall, Umeå and Luleå aswell as in Östersund.
Due to the new terminal structure, operations at the terminals in Västerås and Karlstad will bemoved to Hallsberg by 2013. Terminal operations in Stockholm will also be moved: operations inTomteboda, Uppsala and parts of the operations in Årsta, south of Stockholm, will be moved toRosersberg by 2014. Operations at the UDM terminal in Norrköping will be moved to Hallsberg andÅrsta by 2014. The operation currently located at the parcel terminal in Ånge will be moved toSundsvall, Östersund, Umeå and Luleå by 2014.
The new terminal structure will facilitate the co-ordinated transport of letters, parcels andother goods, the company said. Particularly so in Norrland, where the goal is to gradually increasethe share of letters, parcels and other goods transported by rail along the Norrland coast. Theopportunities to do so have increased with the government’s investment in the Bothnia Line, whichenables the fast, efficient transport of goods to and from Norrland.
In terms of the letter operations, the new terminal structure signifies an expanded geographicconcentration, which will allow for more automated, cost-efficient production. Since two newterminals will be set up adjacent to main railway lines, more mail items can be transported byrail. The terminals’ location also means that air and road transports will be made moreefficiently.
“With the new structure, we will be more nimble and have a more flexible production structure.This means that we will be more competitive in terms of countering the major letter volumereductions that are anticipated. We will dramatically reduce our costs and our carbon footprint,and also create scope for improving our customer offer,” explained Andreas Falkenmark, head ofbusiness area Mail Sweden.
A new pallet and parcel terminal will be set up in northern Stockholm to increase customeraccessibility. For the logistics operations, the new structure will meet customer needs for laterpick-up times and earlier delivery times. The change will also increase the operation’s capacityand productivity.
“The new logistics structure in Norrland means that companies that are located there will beable to provide better service to their customers, since they will have more time to fill orders. Asignificant portion of Sweden’s business parcels to Norrland will also be delivered earlier thanthey currently are. The changes will also benefit private consumers since their ordered goods willbe delivered to partner outlets earlier than they are today,” added Henrik Höjsgaard, head ofbusiness area Logistics.
