The parcel boom in the private customer market continues: According to their own forecasts, Germany’s logisticians will deliver more shipments than ever before this year’s Christmas business. Both Hermes and DPD expect volume growth of percent compared to the previous year, as announced by the companies. While DPD, a subsidiary of the French Post Office, did not give an absolute number, Hermes spoke of a probable 120 million parcel deliveries in the last quarter of the year, which is a fifth more than a year earlier. The two companies are the toughest competitors of the market leader Deutsche Post DHL, which does not want to publish its assessment until the end of the month.

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Online trade is also growing due to corona restrictions The smaller competitor GLS – a subsidiary of the British Royal Mail – also expects booming business. “This year we are assuming a record volume, which will be driven by higher online orders,” said a spokeswoman. GLS Germany is expecting growth of more than 24. 000 Parcels per day – GLS does not reveal how many shipments there are per day. According to the industry’s understanding, the Christmas business begins in October when people order their first gifts for their family and friends on the Internet, and ends with the wave of returns of unsuitable gifts after Christmas.

Parcel shipping has been booming in the private customer segment for a long time thanks to growing online trade. This year the corona pandemic will act as an additional driver. How strong this is is illustrated by figures from DPD: In December 2019 per working day, the company delivered an average of more than two million parcels in Germany, which was a record for DPD back then. This value was surpassed this year by corona-related online shopping in May, when there were an average of 2.2 million parcels. For the coming December, DPD is again assuming 2.5 million parcels per working day. However, the situation is different in the B2B parcel business (business to business): There was a decline here, and the industry expects a decline of up to five percent due to corona-related idle supply chains.

More vehicles, surcharge due to extra costs In order to be able to cope with the flood of shipments, the companies are upgrading: For Hermes 3500 additional workers and daily 3900 Extra vehicles in use. DPD sends 2000 additional vehicles onto the streets, also