Total postal services traffic rose by 4.3% in the fourth quarter of 2010 over the previous quarter, reaching around 280 million items. In annual terms, there was a decline of 5%, a move that accentuates the downward trend seen in traffic (in recent years postal traffic has decreased an average of 2.6%/year). The quarterly rise is explained by the fact that the fourth quarter of each year is characterized by a seasonal increase in traffic volumes, to the order of 5%.
The variations were the result of declines in all types of mail, except express mail, which has seen a significant increase.
Of the total number of items delivered, 96% had destinations in the national market, while the remaining 4% had destinations in the international market.
By object type, about 98% of postal traffic refers to correspondence (which is also included in addressed publicity and editorial mail), which grew 4.2% in the quarter but fell 5.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. Deliveries, which rose 9.6% over the previous quarter and 8.2% year on year, represent 2% of total traffic.
Traffic in the liberalized area represented nearly 22% of all postal items sent as at the end of the period being reported. Postal traffic operated in competition increased 7.1% over the previous quarter but fell 6.4% over the same period of 2009, in line with the annual declining trend in this type of traffic. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2006 (the year in which the 2nd phase of postal liberalization entered into force), liberalized postal traffic has decreased by 21%. CTT has 87.7% of postal traffic operated in competition.
In the period being reported, national postal traffic increased 8.6% compared to the previous quarter, totalling 56.5 million objects. On the other hand, outgoing international traffic dropped to about 4.2 million items. The variations in national and international outgoing traffic are explained mainly by the evolution reported in CTT correspondence.
National traffic represents 93% of all postal traffic operated in competition, while outgoing international traffic represents the remaining 7%. In the liberalized area, Grupo CTT is responsible for 88% of national traffic and 79% of outgoing international traffic.
During the quarter, of the about 61 million objects operated in the liberalized regime, about 7 million fell within the category of express mail, while the remaining 53.8 million belonged to other categories of services. Express mail increased 9.8% over the previous quarter and by 11.2% over the same quarter of 2009. This growth is due primarily to the increased number of national deliveries reported by the largest alternative providers of the service.
In terms of the offer structure, it appears that companies of Grupo CTT had a traffic share of 36.3% in express mail and 94.4% in services not covered under the express mail category.
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- Postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=277884
