Amsterdam, 7 May 2009. Through its partnership with EMS Garantpost, GLS Group provides parcel distribution in the Russian Federation as of May 2009. Garantpost feeds international shipments into GLS’ European network. The cooperation agreements were signed last week.

“The activities of European companies within the Russian Federation are increasing“, says Rico Back, CEO of General Logistics Systems B.V., Amsterdam (GLS). “The partnership with Garantpost will give our customers the chance to service this market quickly and reliably.”

Area coverage spans eleven time zones

With a 25 per cent share in the domestic Russian parcel and express shipment market, EMS Garantpost (headquarters in Moscow) is one of the country’s leading providers. Through 18 logistics centres, 68 depots and affiliated regional companies, Garantpost provides service throughout the entire country. About 90 per cent of all CEP imports to Russia go to the metropolitan regions surrounding Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Here, the logistics service provider delivers within 24 or 48 hours after the shipments have been cleared by customs at the Moscow Sheremetjevo Airport. In Moscow alone, Garantpost has a staff of 450 qualified employees and more than 200 vehicles in operation. The logistics centre has a transhipment capacity of
10, 000 parcels per day.

Next-day delivery is possible to all important economic centres in Russia. In remote regions, Garantpost reaches destinations in two to five days. Because the country is so large, covering 17 million square kilometres and spanning eleven time zones, Garantpost ships 80 per cent of its long-distance transports per airfreight. Truck transports amount to 15 per cent. The remaining five per cent are forwarded for local distribution via train because, in some regions, no efficient alternative transport is available.

Quality in the partner networks

To ensure quick customs clearance for international shipments, the company has its own customs terminal at the Moscow airport. “Garantpost’s customs competence was one of the important criteria for our decision to enter the partnership”, says Rico Back. “Another was the company’s high performance quality, which – similar to GLS – is monitored by scanning all parcels at relevant points in the process. We have set up an interface to Garantpost’s IT system. This way, our customers can also use our Track and Trace system to track the status of their parcels in Russia.”

Dmitry Zolkin, Deputy General Director of EMS Garantpost, also sees great potential in the new partnership: "Since GLS is present in 36 European countries, Garantpost can from now on provide consistent products and services throughout Europe. GLS’ tightly knit network and short regular delivery times will contribute new impulses to our export business.”



Quality delivered by GLS

General Logistics Systems B.V., Amsterdam (GLS), is a Pan-European company providing reliable, high-quality parcel and express services as well as value-added logistics solutions. The company offers its services through wholly owned and partner companies in 36 European states, and is globally connected via contractual agreements. The GLS system consists of 32 central transhipment points, 680 depots and 13,000 employees. Some 19,700 vehicles transport 335 million parcels annually for 220,000 customers throughout Europe. In the financial year 2007/08, GLS achieved revenues of 1.75 billion euros. GLS stands for “European Leader in Quality“. This is something that everyone working for GLS strives to achieve every day.