Express Delivery Services : Report of the One-Hundred and First Round Table on Transport Economics Held in Paris on 16-17 November 1995

Buoyed by the globalisation of trade, international express delivery of documents, packets and parcels is expanding rapidly. At the same time, express delivery and parcel services are tending to resemble each other greatly, at least in Europe. Express delivery and parcel service operators -- integrators, forwarders, traditional carriers or public undertakings like the Post Office -- compete increasingly. How will markets evolve? What will be the role of the various players? Will they enter into strategic alliances, and will these alliances be lasting? Should the authorities intervene? These and other questions were raised at the Round Table where experts and express delivery service operators compared their opinions. The Round Table showed clearly that the express delivery business in Europe is poised to undergo major changes.