"We are Growing Green"

In 2020, Austrian Post transported 166 million parcels, a 30 percent rise from the previous year. We achieved a disproportionately high increase year-on-year, raising our market share in the Austrian parcel segment from 52 percent in 2019 to 58 percent in 2020 and further expanding upon our market leadership position. Even if 2020 proved to be an exceptional year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the trend towards e-commerce is continuing and also resulted in volume growth of more than 20 percent in the first half of 2021. The phenomenon of e-commerce is here to stay, and we have prepared ourselves for this.

Austrian Post is investing heavily so that we can continue to cope with these volumes and further growth which we expect to be in the high single-digit percentage range in the medium term. These investments are in our infrastructure as well as in human resources and the expansion of our innovative customer solutions. We regularly evaluate where we stand and constantly consider new, innovative ideas to be able to offer even more convenience to our customers.

We are investing roughly half a billion euros within the context of our multi-year expansion programme. We will succeed in enhancing our sorting performance by 30 percent by 2022 alone. 

This means we will be capable of sorting some 120,000 parcels per hour in our logistics network. For this purpose, we are building new logistics centres or enlarging existing sites. Almost every single logistics centre is being impacted by our capacity expansion drive. We are also adding new capacities in our delivery services by expanding 20 delivery bases in Austria and constructing 20 new ones. Furthermore, we are focusing on the digitalisation of processes and pressing ahead with the electrification of our vehicle fleet. Our 2,500 electric-powered vehicles already comprise Austria’s largest electric vehicle fleet. We are generating our own green electricity to operate our EV fleet on the basis of photovoltaic systems installed on the rooftops of our logistics centres. Our delivery bases will also be equipped with photovoltaic facilities in the future. Furthermore, we have conducted initial tests with buffer storage systems using batteries, namely discarded battery packs from our electric cars.

As one can already see, sustainability is at the heart of all our considerations and investments and is also firmly embedded in our corporate strategy. In this respect, Austrian Post is an international trailblazer in the logistics sector. We have been delivering all letters, magazines, direct mail items and parcels in Austria in a CO₂ neutral manner since 2011. But that’s not all. By the year 2030, we will only deploy electric cars or alternative drive systems on the last mile and thus also deliver all parcels without generating any CO₂ emissions. This is already the case in Graz, Austria’s second largest city.

We are also implementing measures in our freight transport activities. We are equipping lorries with solar panels, operate an LNG (gas-powered) truck and are cooperating with other companies on initiatives to use hydrogen-powered lorries, naturally propelled by green hydrogen. In this regard, it is important for us to remain open to new technologies. Experience will show which technologies are ultimately the most efficient ones when it comes to reducing CO₂ levels. In this respect, Austrian Post has defined specific goals i.e., a 40 percent reduction in CO₂ emissions from 2020 to 2030, a 70 percent decrease in the specific carbon footprint from 2009 to 2030 and 100 percent CO₂-free delivery by 2030. It is a fact that the fight against climate change is the biggest single challenge of our times. We must all contribute in order to achieve the required turnaround.