The Post & Parcel International Summit, supported by the Turkey Payment and Electronic Money Institutions Association, was organized in Istanbul by the Turkey Cargo, Courier and Logistics Operators Association.
In this event, which brought together cargo, e-commerce, express delivery, and courier companies in Turkey for the first time, the needs and future of the cargo and logistics sector were discussed.
Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, who attended the opening of the program, touched upon the increased importance of the cargo sector with the pandemic. Sayan, who stated that this situation accelerated the momentum the sector would experience, said, “We can see this by examining e-commerce data. As of the first 6 months of 2021, the e-commerce volume in our country reached 161 billion TL with a 75.6% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. In the first 6 months of 2021, the number of orders rose from 850.7 million to 1 billion 654 million with a 94.4% increase. Postal sector revenues, which are the most important complement to e-commerce, exceeded 15 billion TL in 2021, and more than 100 million communication and postal shipments were delivered to their owners. Approximately 90% of these shipments consisted of corporate shipments. On the other hand, the postal shipment volume in 2021 was realized at the level of 1.2 billion pieces,” he shared.
Deputy Minister Sayan also shared the developments regarding the changes experienced in the sector during the pandemic period. Sayan said, “Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, in order to protect public health, the requirement to obtain T.C. identity number in the delivery of e-commerce shipments was lifted, and contactless delivery was enabled through methods such as doorsteps, mailboxes, etc., provided that the recipient is informed. Postal service providers enabled alternative deliveries through contracts with third parties via merchants, sites, shopping malls, and locked cargo lockers,” he shared.
Speaking also about the regulations made regarding service quality, Sayan noted that consumer complaints, which have intensified, have decreased. Recording that consumer complaint rates have reached a level close to the EU average, Sayan said, “Especially in the part we mentioned as ‘last mile delivery,’ innovative solutions such as ‘pick-up points’ were also welcomed with satisfaction by our citizens. These regulations prevented complaints about late deliveries of shipments and the recipients not being at their addresses.”
Deputy Minister Sayan stated that these efforts are also important in terms of the environment, and noted that traffic congestion and environmental pollution caused by the provision of postal services have decreased with the regulations made.
Deputy Minister Sayan: We Are Moving in Parallel with EU Regulations
Sayan, who said they are moving in parallel with EU regulations, emphasized that they do not leave locality and nationality aside while doing all these, saying, “The importance of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s emphasis on ‘locality and nationality’ emerges once again here. We are pleased to see that a large part of cargo lockers in Turkey are now produced by our local companies. This situation will contribute to the reduction of costs and the much wider spread of cargo lockers in the medium and long term.”
Deputy Minister Sayan also stated regarding employment, “The distribution sector, including the postal sector, is leading other sectors in the implementation of new employment models. This distribution model, known as crowd-sourced delivery and in our country as the merchant-courier model, is gaining popularity worldwide. We have started working with relevant public institutions to protect the employees employed in the merchant-courier model. We are taking all necessary measures to ensure that all employees in the distribution sector receive fair and equitable wages that enable them and their families to live a life worthy of human dignity, supported by other social protection tools if necessary.”
President Karagözoğlu: The Development of Communication Technologies Has Opened a Whole New Window in the Postal Sector
Information Technologies and Communication Authority President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu also spoke about the works done in the postal sector. Stating that the effects of technological development are also seen in the postal sector, Karagözoğlu said, “Although the emergence of new communication tools initially gave the impression that it would narrow the postal sector's field, the development of information and communication technologies has, on the contrary, opened a new window for the postal sector. Especially internet technology brought e-commerce system along, and with the widespread use of the internet, demand for e-commerce increased rapidly. Today, there are approximately 4.7 billion internet users worldwide, and about 76% of the population aged 16-64 shops via e-commerce. This situation has also revealed the need for an effective transportation system.”
Touching upon the effects of the pandemic on the postal sector, Karagözoğlu said, “Billions of products purchased via e-commerce are delivered to their owners through postal service providers. With people staying at home, work life continuing remotely, and physical shopping moving to virtual environments, cargo numbers increased significantly. So much so that many businesses and consumers in e-commerce intensified their activities in this area. This also led to increased investments and employment that the sector needs to make. These gained habits seem difficult to abandon by people even after the pandemic ends. Taking this into account, we are making long-term plans.”
President Karagözoğlu concluded his speech by mentioning the importance of the sector for the country's economy.