GLS announced on Monday that it will increase its prices in Germany by 3.5% with effect from April1. The hike is due to rising operational costs.
The increase will apply to both domestic and international shipments, the Royal Mailsubsidiary said in a statement.
The driving forces behind the rising costs are the shortage of available freight capacity,new legal restrictions such as changed driving hours and the digital tachograph, GLS said.
“The new driving hours regulation affects not only cross-border traffic for GLS Germany butalso domestic linehaul transport,” commented managing director Klaus Conrad. “Moreover, it isnecessary to fit all newly-registered trucks with a digital tachograph, with follow-on costs forassociated equipment, maintenance and driver training.”
Furthermore, the general rise in shipments, shortage of drivers and long waiting times fornew trucks are all contributing to a shortage of freight transport capacity in the market.Additional capacity is only available at considerably higher rates, GLS noted.
GLS had already fully used all its options to absorb rising costs by process improvementssuch as more efficient handling through new scanner technology and new depots.
“In order not to impact on our high quality we are now forced to adjust prices to the marketconditions,” Conrad concluded.
