The IPC Sprinter Network providing fast delivery of priority letters between European postaloperators is being expanded with the full accession of PostNL in January 2013.
PostNL will join six other operators that both send and receive priority letters through thistransportation network: Austria Post, bpost, Deutsche Post DHL, Le Groupe La Poste, Poste Italianeand P&T Luxembourg. Swiss Post and Royal Mail Group are only receiving operators.
The network, created in 2005 as an alternative to reduced air transport capacity, is anovernight road transport network that carries priority letters between nine European postaloperators.
The expansion will bring the expected total exchanged volumes next year to 44,500 kg of prioritymail each week, an increase in the committed volumes of 2% compared to 2012.
Today, the network consists of more than 30 offices of exchange to office of exchange links innine European countries, with hubs in Luxembourg and Zurich, served by a fleet of Light GoodsVehicles (LGV).
IPC said the Sprinter Network has contributed in improving delivery quality and implementingtransport synergies for participating postal organisations.
To ensure the highest quality of service, IPC monitors and assesses the performance of thenetwork with its CAPE reporting and monitoring system. Transponders attached to the vehiclestransmit tracking data, which is detected by IPC’s RFID network at each office of exchange.IPC feeds tracking events into CAPE Vision, which allows to assess performance and to report backto participating postal operators.
IPC said it continuously analyses all the available reports and proposes opportunities forexpanding the network for current or potential new users. The existing network is open to newlinks, participants and services.
