SDA, the express subsidiary of Poste Italiane, is maintaining stable growth despite thedifficult economic situation in the country and the stagnating express market, a senior manager
told CEP-Research in an interview.“We are the market leader on the Italian express market with a strong operational capacity. Ourrevenues last year amounted to about €440 million and showed solid growth. The general expressmarket in Italy is quite flat, especially with the current difficult situation in Italy in economicterms. But our revenues are stable and with the general market not growing, this is already anachievement,” Francesco Montuolo, Head of European Business Development at SDA, explained.
During the first half year of 2011, SDA increased its external revenues by 6.7% to €160 millionand volumes by 9.6% to just over 20 million. Its domestic revenues grew by 9.6% to €127 millionwith volumes rising 10.1% to 18.8 million. The international business grew with more items handledfor UPS and FedEx, according to the group’s half-year report.
“Our advantage is that we can deliver within 24/48 hours across Italy,” he stressed.
SDA offers a complete range of services: from its international service to domestic expressservices with guaranteed delivery times; dedicated, specialised services, technological solutionsand specific e-commerce solutions.
SDA’s main competitors on the Italian express market include the integrators DHL, TNT, UPS andFedEx as well as the domestic operator Bartolini. “Among the domestic players, Bartolini is ourmain competitor offering comparable services,” Montuolo admitted.
The company mostly focuses on road transportation but also offers air express services. “Ourmost popular products are the next-day express services with different weight and time options,”Montuolo said.
As part of its product portfolio, the company offers domestic express services for parcels witha weight not exceeding 3 kg, 15 kg and 30 kg providing one-day delivery throughout Italy, exceptfor shipments to the islands and Calabria, which take two days. Its Extra Large service is asolution for heavy, voluminous shipments delivered door-to-door in express time throughout Italywith no limit to either weight or dimensions with the price based on the weight/volume effectivelysent.
SDA’s Golden Service is a premium solution for shipments weighing up to 30 kg providingtime-definite delivery by 10.30 am in the morning of the day after collection and includesinsurance, proof of delivery and money-back guarantee.
Its Time Definite range consists of three premium services including ore9, ore10 and ore12. Ore9is dedicated to lighter and more urgent consignments, which are delivered by 9:00 on the nextworking day after pick-up in the main provincial capitals and business centres. Ore10 guaranteesnext-day delivery by 10 a.m. to 1,000 locations in Italy while Ore12 ends the morning with deliveryby 12 p.m. to 2,800 locations.
The company’s international service provides express delivery to anywhere in the world withoutany limitations whatsoever as to weight, size and number of packages. Thanks to the consolidatedpartnership with FedEx, the shipments reach over 200 countries in the world. The delivery times are1 day for European Union countries, 2 days for USA/Canada and 2-4 days for the rest of theworld.
SDA joined the Eurodis network last week. The European logistics network of AustrianPost/trans-o-flex added SDA as its new strategic partner in Italy with the cooperation to startfrom February 2012. “Thanks to the partnership with Eurodis, SDA will expand its internationaloffer through the launch (about March 2012) of a new road service for parcel and pallet in Europewith high quality standards,” explained Montuolo.
In addition, SDA has extended its cooperation with UPS that started in 2006 for two more yearsfrom February 2012 onwards. Under the deal, UPS handles SDA international express parcels while SDAdelivers parcels for UPS in Italy.
SDA Express Courier was founded in 1984 with its head office located in Rome and started out asan express courier for deliveries in Italy. In 1998, SDA Express Courier joined the Poste ItalianeGroup, the Italian national postal operator.
The company employs around 3,100 staff delivering across Italy every day and connecting about100 operating centres. It operates a network of 89 terminals, 11 hubs and mini hubs and twogateways with a delivery fleet of around 3,500 vehicles.
