GLS now delivers parcels for Israel Postal Company Ltd. (Israel Post) throughout Europe under a new cooperation agreement.
The cooperation between Royal Mail’s European parcels subsidiary and the Israeli postal operator began in May, initially for Israeli B2B deliveries. Bilateral expansion of the collaboration is planned, GLS said.
Parcels from Tel Aviv reach numerous important European markets within two to five days with Israel Post and GLS. The parcels of business clients – arriving by airmail from Israel – are taken on by the IATA-licensed GLS Airport Office in Frankfurt. From there, the parcels are transported to the European hub in Neuenstein. Most deliveries clear customs on the day of arrival, enter the GLS network and are then forwarded to their final destinations.
“There are close trade relations between Israel and many countries in Europe”, said Saadi Al-Soudani, Managing Director International at GLS. “Together with Israel Post, we will reliably and transparently complete parcel deliveries from companies based there and here.”
The parcels receive GLS routing and address labels while still in Israel. Interfaces between the partners’ IT systems allow continuous monitoring. This means senders can use the GLS or Israel Post Track & Trace systems to follow the progress of their parcels throughout Europe up until their delivery.
“Our export market is a competitive market and the cooperation between GLS and Israel Post will enable us to compete with the integrators,” commented Daniel Bottwin, Deputy Vice President of Operations, International Business and Affairs at Israel Post. “The benefits for the Israeli costumer are: customs clearance including electronic pre-advise and a dedicated customer service call centre offering immediate support.”
The next level of cooperation between the two companies includes development of an inbound service to Israel through GLS and a pick-up solution from EU countries to Israel.
Israel Post, with some 5,000 employees, 700 branches and 2,100 service points, handles around 2.5 million items of post daily and has about 20 million international inbound and outbound mail items (B2B, B2C, C2C) per year. 1,000 post vehicles, 1,200 postmen and postwomen and 350 couriers are active for Israel Post across the country.
GLS, with 436 million parcels a year and revenues of €2.1 billion in the 2014/15 financial year, covers 37 European states and is globally connected via contractual agreements.
