DHL and Austria Post are combining their last mile operations in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
The agreement will see Austrian Post subsidiary In Time delivering parcels sent by DHL customers to Slovakia while DHL’s subsidiary PPL CZ will deliver the other company’s parcels to the Czech Republic.
The collaboration will begin in September 2019 and will not affect other business units of the two companies.
The goal is to offer shorter delivery times and help both parties tap into growing cross-border ecommerce.
Petr Horak, MD of PPL CZ and DHL Parcel Slovensko, said: “After the collaboration with Austrian Post in Austria both parties decided to further use each other’s delivery network as described in Slovakia and Czech Republic.
“With ecommerce on the rise and growing parcel volumes high quality and best-in-class customer experience in last-mile-delivery becomes increasingly a key differentiator and with this cooperation we will lay the right foundation for this.”
Carsten Wallmann, SVP Turkey and Central, Eastern Europe Parcel, Austrian Post, said: “We look forward to expanding our strategic partnership with DHL.
“We are confident that we will be able to convince the DHL customers thanks to our quality in last-mile-delivery and are pleased to have found a professional partner in the Czech Republic for our growing cross-border e-commerce business.”
The collaboration comes after DHL in March partnered with Austrian Post to deliver its parcels in Austria in an effort to cut delivery times for cross-border ecommerce orders. As part of the agreement, Austrian Post will take on DHL employees in the country and most of its logistics facilities there.
Customers will have access to services such as pick-up stations, self-service zones, reception boxes and a bespoke app.
The agreement, which aims to capitalise on growing demand for cross-border ecommerce, will come into force this year if approved by competition regulators. As part of a long-term partnership, they will also explore further areas of collaboration in the future.
