Russian Post has posted a successful pre-holiday peak period from 1 November to 31 December 2015 nearly doubling the number of international shipments (with product enclosures) handled, compared to the same period last year.
During the last two months of 2015, Russian Post processed 37.5 million international shipments which is nearly twice as much as in 2014 when the postal operator handled 19 million shipments during the corresponding period. In December last year alone, the company handled 22 million items which more than doubles the shipping volumes of December 2014 (10 million).
Russians traditionally exchange presents on New Year’s Eve which is the major festive event during the New Year’s holiday period that runs for the following 10 days.
In 2015 overall, Russian Post handled 128 million international shipments with product enclosures (including import, export and transit). Export shipment volumes increased by 30% compared to 2014 and by 50% compared to 2013.
Thanks to the modernisation of postal logistics and despite the growing shipment volumes, Russian Post managed to reduce average delivery times of international shipments for a third year in a row. Today, the delivery times in Central Russia average 7-10 days and 15-20 days across the country which is considerably faster than in 2013. As the result, the number of complaints about the delivery quality has continuously decreased over the last two years. In 2015, the figure was only half as high as in 2013 (based on the number of complaints for 1,000 shipments).
To continuously speed up the delivery times, Russian Post has been developing services for the "last mile". For example, the company has opened 192 specialised service points for parcel pick-up and drop-off in 40 cities. It also introduced a new address-based system for storing shipments and created so-called “parcel counters” at post offices. The first part of Russian Post’s logistics centre in Vnukovo is working at full capacity while the major construction work has been completed on the second part as well.
"By 2018, postal logistics centres will appear in other Russian cities as well. Our goal is to deliver a minimum of 95% of the shipments with product enclosures on time even if shipping volume growth multiplies,” Alexey Skatin, Deputy General Director Russian Post, Logistics, said.
Last year, Russian Post acquired more than 3,500 vehicles renewing 20% of its fleet. Most of the new cars were cargo and cargo-passenger models and were deployed in all branches of Russian Post, including in remote and inaccessible areas to ensure operational and smooth delivery of postal items without interruption. A significant part of the new vehicles was purchased as part of the government programme “Recycling of transport means” in which Russian Post has saved more than RUB 400 million (€4.8 million).
"Purchasing new vehicles helps us cope with the growing shipment volumes, reduce delivery times while reducing the costs of maintenance for the vehicles,” said Evgeny Elfimov, Deputy General Director of Russian Post for Property Affairs.
