Royal Mail’s international parcels subsidiary GLS has extended its network to Mexico by partnering with local number two Estafeta, a former DPD partner.
From June 2019, Estafeta will deliver inbound consignments from GLS’ European and North American businesses to recipients in Mexico. In a second step, it will feed parcels from Mexico into the GLS network for delivery in Europe, the US and Canada.
“Thanks to the cooperation with Estafeta, our customers in Europe and North America will benefit from a modern, efficient network in Mexico, which thereby complements our existing operation in the US and Canada,” explained Saadi Al-Soudani, Managing Director International at GLS. “We are very happy with this partnership, because with North America and Europe, we are connecting the world’s biggest trade regions.”
As already reported by CEP-Research, Al-Soudani told analysts at Royal Mail Group’s recent Capital Markets Day about the new partnership.
Ingo Babrikowski, General Manager at Estafeta, sees benefits for Mexican shippers through the new partnership. “We welcome our partnership with GLS because we are sure that working together we will be able to provide even more competitive solutions into the European market for our customers,” the long-serving manager said.
Estafeta, which cooperated closely with DPDgroup for many years, is the second-largest logistics, courier and parcel service provider in Mexico and covers the fifth-largest country in the Americas with an extensive network and over 6,500 employees. The company operates out of three hubs and 57 operating centres, using six cargo planes (four B737s, two Bombardier CRJ-100s) and 3,600 vehicles for nationwide transportation and delivery.
In 2018, Estafeta achieved double-digit growth thanks to increases in e-commerce, import and export volumes, and diverse logistics services. The previous year, it increased volumes by 11% to nearly 34 million shipments. The company has invested over 1.4 billion pesos to expand its service portfolio over the last three years and will celebrate its 40th anniversary in August this year.
