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DeutschePostDHL is to abandon its efforts to compete in the liberalised Dutch domestic mail market by selling its local subsidiary, Selektmail, to rival company Sandd, the main competitor to TNT Post.



UNI Post & Logistics affiliate in the Netherlands, Abvakabo FNV director Peter Wiechmann said; "I assume this is the beginning of the end of the price war. Only then can we get back to normal postal rates, and regular employment. This acquisition provides opportunity to resolve the problems the postal market faces. "



Wiechmann is pleased that DeutschePostDHL, the parent company of Selektmail, withdraws from the Dutch postal market. "All experts agreed that Selektmail was the strongest fighter in the price war. I assume that there is now room for at least our final offer on employment conditions. The company does not in any event announce that there is no money for the postal carriers, because apparently there was enough money for a takeover of one of the competitors.”



The deal, which has been agreed but still requires approval by the national competition authority, marks consolidation of the Dutch domestic market to two main players: the incumbent TNT Post and privately-owned Sandd, with a future market share of about 16%.

Sandd announced yesterday that it intends to take over the activities of Selektmail Nederland for an undisclosed sum. It will initially operate two parallel networks but then gradually integrate them. The company aims to achieve a market share of 20-25% in future. According to Dutch media, it currently has about 10% of the market compared to about 5% for Selektmail.



Launched in 2001 to compete with TNT Post, Sandd now handles about 450 million items a year. It has about 14,000 employees, mostly delivery staff, and operates out of 70 branch offices to provide 100% geographical coverage of the Netherlands. In 2008, it had revenues of €80 million.



Selektmail, which now operates under the DHL Global Mail brand, is somewhat smaller than Sandd and has about 12,000 delivery staff. It offers a 48-hour delivery service with deliveries twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.



UNI’s two Dutch postal affiliates have been severely critical of both companies over their employment policies. They mostly use part-time staff who are paid by piece rates. However, the Dutch government has given them a deadline of April 1, 2011, to transfer at least 80% of their delivery workers to normal employment contracts.