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Current news releases
Aschaffenburg, 16th of November 2009 – Following a longlasting partnership with the Swedish Post DPD has now become partner to the new Posten Norden in most Scandinavian countries. Now that the final hurdles posed by anti-cartel legislation have been overcome DPD, the international provider of parcel and express services, is working closely together with the newly founded Posten Norden postal service in northern Europe.
Posten Norden has been created by a merger between the Danish and Swedish postal services, the latter of which was a longstanding DPD partner. “We now have an even stronger major partner for the big four northern-European countries and have effectively reinforced our position in Scandinavia”, confirms DPD CEO Arnold Schroven. “This opens up new and attractive prospects for the further expansion of our operations in this region, due to the broad range of services Posten Norden is offering.
In order to prevent any negative effects on free competition the European Commission had made it a condition for the merger that in Denmark DPD and the Danish postal service should dispose of a small number of specific assets and contracts in the B2B sector. This precondition was met with the recent disposal of customer contacts and one depot. DPD's operations in Denmark will be continued unchanged with its new partner, which has been strengthened by the merger. DPD Denmark will continue as before to implement its partner's B2B services in Denmark, with products, services and customer contacts remaining under the DPD brand.
International parcel and express service provider DPD has been operating in Scandinavia since 1996, and the cooperation with Sweden's postal service has been in place since 2001. Over the years the company has registered continuous growth in its parcel shipments to and from northern Europe.
"This initial merger between two postal services in Europe represents a ground-breaking development for the whole industry and may turn out to be the model for further mergers", comments Mr Schroven. "DPD has only benefited from the development and was involved as a partner throughout the entire process."
Courier Company DPD opened an Internet-based ordering service that provides easy and convenient ordering, payment via bank link, and sending of parcels also for non-contracted business and private customers. Parcels or envelopes can now be sent through the new web page www.pakivedu.ee to Estonia as well as Europe. DPD Estonia is continually investing in info-technological solutions for the transportation of goods in order to offer contemporary courier services to all, including private customers. ‘The newly opened Ordering Centre is an important part of the expansion of the new service portfolio,’ states Janek Kivimurd, head of sales and marketing in DPD. DPD Ordering Centre is on one hand meant to offer quick online ordering for contracted clients; on the other hand it is there to help small and private customers order convenient and fast courier services,’ says Kivimurd. DPD has developed an Ordering Centre which allows customers to send goods without leaving their home or office. ‘It couldn’t be easier to send goods to either Estonia or abroad – order the courier online, pay via bank link, and the courier will pick up the goods at specified location. In addition, the web environment permits one to manage both orders and invoices,’ explains Kivimurd. The aim of the new online centre is to offer everybody, business as well as private customers, a contemporary and convenient courier service. ‘An envelope or a parcel may be sent from Võru to Kärdla, Tartu to London – and it can all be done online, fast and comfortably,’ Kivimurd illustrates. The development process of the Ordering Centre began with the specification and expansion of the business concept and a strong IT platform. ‘From the online Ordering Centre the orders pass to the couriers’ hand held scanners, and that will allow for effective and precise handling of the orders. A more contemporary, dependable and convenient courier service is now more accessible than ever,’ Kivimurd comments. The online address of the DPD Ordering Centre is www.pakivedu.ee
Internationally the economic and financial crisis is creating a boom in C.O.D. shipments.
Aschaffenburg/Prague, 23rd June 2009 – DPD is expanding its C.O.D. service to the rest of Europe. Since 1st of June it has been possible to ship C.O.D. parcels domestically in Romania and Estonia, while international C.O.D. shipments are now also available between Germany and the Czech Republic.
The worldwide economic and financial crisis is creating a major increase in demand for parcel shipping services which offer security of payment. DPD has experienced this particularly in the countries of Eastern and Southern Europe, and in some countries C.O.D. shipments now account for up to 20 per cent of the volumes transported by the international parcel and express service provider.
"We noticed this trend as early as last year, which prompted us to drive forward the expansion of our C.O.D. service", states DPD CEO Arnold Schroven. In the process DPD benefits from two unique features when it comes to C.O.D. shipping: fast transfer of the collected payments and a high level of transparency provided by online financial histories. "For domestic shipments DPD transfers payment at the latest 48 hours after delivery", confirms Mr Schroven. "In the case of international shipments, including transport to non-euro countries such as the Czech Republic, the transfer is made at the latest after 72 hours."
In addition DPD is the only parcel and express service provider which enables customers to check the financially relevant details of their shipment online, together with the standard parcel tracking service. On the basis of this financial history shippers can see, for example, when the DPD driver collected the C.O.D. amount in cash or as a crossed cheque, and when the money was transferred.
DPD is currently offering a domestic C.O.D. service in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Estonia, Croatia, Romania, Switzerland, Serbia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. International C.O.D. services are already in place between Germany, Benelux and Austria, as well as between Germany and the Czech Republic. There are plans to launch an international C.O.D. service to and from additional non-euro countries for the second half of the year.
About DPD
With the shipment of 2 million parcels a day in a seamless international network DPD is a leading international provider of express and parcel services. The DPD brand is represented throughout Europe and worldwide. DPD offers its customers a wide spectrum of domestic and international services, ranging from standard and express parcels via a wide spectrum of service options right across to solutions tailored specifically to customer requirements. At more than 500 depots in above 40 countries a workforce numbering over 22,000 and 15,000 vehicles operate on behalf of 200,000 customers. The company's management is led by Arnold Schroven (CEO) and John Acton. France's GeoPost Group, a wholly-owned La Poste subsidiary, is the majority shareholder in DPD. The minority shareholders are DPD Systemlogistik GmbH & Co. KG (10.47 per cent shareholding) and DPD Zeitfracht GmbH & Co. KG (6.21 per cent shareholding). Paris, 2 April 2009 – GeoPost has just acquired five new franchises in Spain (Albacete, Cordoba, Palencia, Teruel and Cartagena). These acquisitions confirm GeoPost’s position and long term commitment in Spain, as GeoPost now manages 13 franchises in Spain. The newly acquired franchises have a global turnover of around 25 M Euros.
The acquisition of these five franchises and the shareholders agreement signed in March 2008 between GeoPost and a group of SEUR franchisees provide a share majority which will help and guarantee the continuity of the strategy prevailing since 2004 when SEUR chose GeoPost as its international strategic partner in the express parcels business.
About GeoPost
The GeoPost Group consolidates the Express service subsidiaries of the La Poste Group and is a major player in express services in Europe, as shown by its top ranking road transport network, DPD. GeoPost operates in over 230 countries on behalf of over 300,000 customers worldwide and is n°1 in France and n°2 at European level on the express parcel market with a consolidated turnover figure of 3.292 billion euros in 2008.
More information available on: www.geopostgroup.com |
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