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DHL-Bote (archive picture): 15 percent more orders expected for Christmas this year than in 2019
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Winfried Rothermel / imago images
Due to the boom in online trading during the corona crisis, Deutsche Post transported significantly more parcels than expected via its subsidiary DHL, thereby compensating for weaknesses in the advertising business.
In Germany alone, 1.34 billion parcels were sent in the third quarter, the company announced in Bonn.
That is 11.6 percent more than a year earlier.
At the beginning of the year, the company had only expected growth of up to five percent.
The volume of letters, however, shrank faster than before, and the business with lucrative advertising mail also fell significantly.
The reason for this: the tight budgets of corporate customers for advertising due to the corona break in the economy.
However, the parcel services ran so well that the group division grew despite these setbacks: Revenues at Post & Parcel Germany increased by 3.4 percent to 3.8 billion euros from July to September compared to the same period last year.
The operating result rose from 304 million to 320 million euros.
The total revenue of the Deutsche Post Group rose in the third quarter by 4.4 percent to 16.2 billion euros.
The net profit even increased by about half to 851 million euros.
In the last quarter of the year, which includes the Christmas business including "Black Friday" discounts, Swiss Post expects a further significant increase in the volume of parcels and express deliveries.
13,000 additional vehicles for Christmas orders
For parcels, the Christmas plus is expected to be 15 percent compared to the previous year's business, and for express deliveries even 50 percent.
This would mean that the Post would deliver more items than ever before.
Competitors DPD and Hermes are also expecting records.
However, the Christmas orders also increase costs: the company is sending more than 13,000 additional vehicles and 600 more electric tricycles onto the streets - and has already announced that it will also deliver parcels in the evening.
Deutsche Post also sees itself prepared for the distribution of a possible corona vaccine.
The group is ready for distribution and is in talks with pharmaceutical companies and governments, said CEO Frank Appel.
The post can also transport vaccines that have to be cooled down heavily.
"The distribution will not fail because of the logistics," said Appel.
The contract logistics division of the group operates around 180 locations around the world, tailored to the needs of the pharmaceutical industry, in which sensitive medical products can be stored and packaged in various temperature zones.
Transport at minus 70 degrees can also be guaranteed.
Mainz-based biotech company Biontech and its partner Pfizer announced a breakthrough on the road to a vaccine on Monday and are planning to apply for an emergency approval for the drug in the United States this month.
Companies expect to ship up to 50 million vaccine doses worldwide this year and up to 1.3 billion doses next year.
Biontech boss Ugur Sahin described the challenges for the distribution: "We will ship the vaccine at minus 70 degrees, it will then be stored in central locations at minus 70 and when it is used, it can be kept in the refrigerator for five days or be transported at refrigerator temperature. "
This logistics will be used for the first three months.
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apr / dpa / Reuters
