Russian Post has successfully reduced a major backlog of international parcels over the last fewmonths and taken action to avoid backlogs and delays to international shipments in the future,
restructuring its processes in cooperation with the country’s Customs authority.Like many postal operators around the world, Russian Post has seen significant growth in parcelvolumes, driven by the expansion of e-retail. International shipments to Russia boomed last yearwith Russian Post seeing a 50% increase in import volumes as consumers ordered more goods fromforeign websites, particularly from China, the US and Italy. Incoming express mail, parcels andsmall packages rose to around 30 million shipments in 2012, around 20% of Russian Post’s overallshipment volumes last year.
Dmitry Strashnov, director general of Russian Post, said that with shipping volumes expected toincrease by 50% in the near future, the postal operator had taken a number of measures to preventfuture parcel backlogs and optimise the transit times of international shipments by changing thelogistics of shipping flows.
“The working processes at the existing international postal exchange offices have beenaccelerated, thanks to efficient cooperation with the Federal Customs Office,” Strashnov said. “Only two months ago, the remaining backlog of international parcels still amounted to 900 tonnes;currently it is only 200 tonnes.”
The Federal Customs Office and Russian Post are due to establish a mutual electronic dataexchange by the end of this year. The postal operator also plans to deploy another internationalpostal exchange office in Moscow to start operations by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) signed a joint declaration with the Commonwealth ofIndependent States (CIS) and PostEurop at the international postal forum in St. Petersburg, Russialast month to boost cross-border e-commerce in Europe.
Taking place for the 11th time and organised by Russian Post, ‘Pochtovaya Troika 2013’ was heldunder the motto “E-Post – path of development”, with electronic data interchange (EDI) being one ofthe key topics.
This represented a key step in implementing a plan for the development of electronic postalservices in Europe and the CIS countries for 2013-2016. This would enable all cooperating partiesto solve general problems on the basis of common priorities avoiding duplication of actions,development and expenses, the UPU said.
“These plans will help deliver the technical assistance developing countries need to set up orstrengthen their postal networks and enable all posts to take advantage of new opportunities,” UPUgeneral director Bishar Hussein told the conference.
“The signed declaration will enable the postal services, including Russian Post, to developelectronic services at a greater rate, due to the fact that the national postal operator will getaccess to the best known practices.” He highlighted the promotion of electronic services andinnovation as a key strategy for postal operators worldwide.
Hussein also emphasised that Russian Post had made a considerable step forward on its waytowards modernisation by launching its automated sorting centres in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The International Forum-Exhibition Pochtovaya Troika brings together government and privatesector officials involved in the global postal system for discussions on technology, commerce andissues affecting posts worldwide.
Between 2006 and 2011, international parcel traffic increased by an average of 8.9% annually inEurope and CIS regions, outpacing all other regions for that period. In mature e-commerce marketslike the UK, B2C deliveries account for between 20% and 40% of estimated volumes, UPU said.
