Amsterdam, 29 July 2015.The GLS Group now delivers parcels for Israel Postal Company Ltd. (Israel Post) throughout Europe. The cooperation began in May of this year, initially for Israeli B2B deliveries. Bilateral expansion of the collaboration is planned.
Parcels from Tel Aviv reach numerous important European markets within two to five days with Israel Post and GLS. The parcels of business clients – arriving by airmail from Israel – are taken on by the IATA-licensed GLS Airport Office in Frankfurt. From there, the parcels are transported to the European hub in Neuenstein. Most deliveries clear customs on the day of arrival, enter the GLS network and are then forwarded to their final destinations.
“There are close trade relations between Israel and many countries in Europe”, says Saadi Al-Soudani, Managing Director International at GLS. “Together with Israel Post, we will reliably and transparently complete parcel deliveries from companies based there and here.”
The parcels receive GLS routing and address labels while still in Israel. Interfaces between the partners’ IT systems allow continuous monitoring. This means senders can use the GLS or Israel Post Track & Trace systems to follow the progress of their parcels throughout Europe up until their delivery.
“Our export market is a competitive market and the cooperation between GLS and Israel Post will enable us to compete with the integrators”, says Daniel Bottwin, Deputy Vice President of Operations, International Business and Affairs at Israel Post. “The benefits for the Israeli costumer are: customs clearance including electronic pre-advise and a dedicated customer service call centre offering immediate support.”
The next level of cooperation between the two companies includes development of an inbound service to Israel through GLS and a pick-up solution from EU countries to Israel.
About Israel Post
Israel Postal Company Ltd. (headquartered in Tel Aviv) offers a broad spectrum of services, including postal, banking, parcel delivery and courier services under the Israel Post brand. The company employs around 5,000 members of staff and operates 700 branches, as well as 2,100 service points. Around 2.5 million items of post are sorted daily. Israel Post handles about 20 million international inbound and outbound mail items (B2B, B2C, C2C) per year. 1,000 post vehicles, 1,200 postmen and postwomen and 350 couriers are active for Israel Post across the country.
The GLS Group in Europe
GLS, General Logistics Systems B.V. (headquartered in Amsterdam), realises reliable, high-quality parcel services for over 220,000 customers in Europe, complemented by logistics and express services. “Quality leader in European parcel logistics” is GLS’ guiding principle, sustainability being one of the core values. Through wholly owned and partner companies, the Group provides a network coverage of 37 European states and is globally connected via contractual agreements. 39 central transhipment points and 688 depots are at GLS’ disposal. With its ground based network GLS is one of the leading parcel service providers in Europe. Over 14,000 employees handle 436 million parcels per year. Every day around 19,000 vehicles are on route for GLS. In the financial year 2014/15 GLS achieved revenues of 2.1 billion euros.