BY PATRICK GITHINJI
Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) plans to partner with courier companies TNT and Akamba to cater for increased trade volumes.
TNT is an international express and mail delivery services company, while Akamba is a courier company in the East Africa region.
Addressing Journalists at PCK headquarters in Nairobi yesterday, Stephen Muriuki, General Manager Courier and Mail Services said the partnerships would be based on business strengths.
PCK will use the firms’ courier services in areas where they don’t have branches.
READ MORE
Akamba elders turn to ancestral rain prayers as drought persists
Judge cancels sale of Mombasa postal land
"Discussions with these firms are ongoing," he said, explaining that the partnerships have been fuelled by increased trade volumes in and out of the country, friendly pricing strategy and security.
Under the partnership, PCK will hire the firms’ fleet of vehicles as a way to contain costs.
The partnerships are expected to increase the volumes of mails and parcels from 200,000 metric tonnes a day to 350,000 metric tonnes before the end of the year.
He said 80 per cent the volumes were drawn from the business community.
Tracking devices
However, to contain theft and pilferage, Muriuki said they had installed a Sh65 million CCTV surveillance system in the mail and parcel sorting centres at GPO, City Square and Mombasa.
"We are also fitting all PCK fleets with tracking devices," he said.
PCK acquired a Sh10 million tracking system for its 250 fleets.
The fitting will be done in two phases. The first phase will be for the old fleets while the second will target vehicles to be purchased.
Muriuki said since Post General Master Major Hussein Ali joined the corporation, cases of pilferage, theft and loss of items had dropped. However, he did not give figures.
Another plan in the offing, the manager said, is an e-commerce platform to assist small businesses sell their products across the East African Region.
He said it would unlock the opportunity for the small businesses, since they can package their commodities in small quantities and send them to any destination across the region.
