GLS has added Serbia and Croatia to its European network with new regional partners tostrengthen its international presence.
In Croatia, GLS parcels are now delivered by the local partner ZUMEx. In Serbia, the domesticcarrier AKS Express Kurir is taking care of GLS shipments. In return, GLS has been deliveringparcels for both companies in Europe since June. Since GLS began handing over parcels for deliveryto the two new partners on 1 April, both companies have expanded their range of services to includeinternational parcel delivery.
ZUMEx ranks among the three largest parcel service providers in Croatia. It operates five sitesincluding a hub and plans to further expand its network with five additional depots. AKS ExpressKurir is the market leader in Serbia for express parcel services and has 20 distribution centresand a hub. The services of the two companies range from parcel and express delivery to warehousingsolutions. 55% of the trade in Croatia and Serbia comes from the EU with Germany, Italy and Francebeing important trading partners for the two countries.
Rico Back, CEO of the GLS Group, commented: “To ensure that our customers’ parcels reachconsignees in the region reliably and quickly, we have decided to cooperate with strong, localpartners, and in doing so to expand our European network by another two valuable components.”
After rapid customs clearance in the destination countries, the partners deliver the GLS parcelswithin 24 hours nationwide except for delivery to the Croatian islands which takes a little longerdue to the irregular ferry service. Both companies also deliver on Saturdays. Croatia is connectedto the GLS network through the daily long-distance transport services between the company’sSlovenian hub in Ljubljana and Zagreb, while Serbia is connected via the route between the GLSHungarian hub in Budapest and Subotica via Szeged.
“Being able to offer uniform products and services across the whole of Europe is a strategicadvantage for us in the market,” said Marko Jankovic, COO of ZUMEx. Aleksandar Stanojevic, managingpartner of AKS Express Kurir, also emphasised the growing importance of international links: “Ourcustomers are increasingly looking beyond the borders of Serbia and expect us as the market leaderto also offer high-quality parcel delivery solutions outside the country. By cooperating with GLS,we can offer this throughout Europe.” Both companies expect additional growth as a result of thispartnership.
GLS said its new partners offer customers the same high-quality standards not only in terms ofthe physical infrastructure, but also in terms of the security, transparency and underlying moderntechnology that customers expect from GLS. Specially setup interfaces between the track & tracesystems mean that consigners can check the status of their shipments online along the entiretransport chain. As elsewhere in Europe, parcels in Croatia and Serbia are scanned in transit. Toadditionally secure the transport chain, ZUMEx and AKS Express Kurir, like GLS in many countries,use satellite vehicle monitoring.
