Sea and airmail packages rise amidst shrinking postal service
File pic of postmen at an event
Don’t be surprised: While it’s no secret that Sri Lanka’s postal service is shrinking with the rise of electronic communications like e-mails, sms, etc, demand for another segment of the service is rising – packages by air and sea.
This is even though the volume of sea and air mail letters has fallen sharply, Postmaster General Rohana Abeyratne told the Business Times.
Thousands of Sri Lankans live and work in other countries including India and Pakistan, West Asia, East Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US while many others regularly travel overseas for various reasons. They communicate with their loved ones in Sri Lanka and exchange gifts, documents parcels, etc daily.
In this backdrop, the volume of sea and airmail parcels in Sri Lanka is increasing, Mr. Abeyratne said adding that Sri Lanka Post (also Department of Posts) has outsourced the sea mail service in a bid to operate it more efficiently and in a cost effective manner.
Outsourcing of sea mail is also a worldwide practice by various postal authorities.
The department follows a strict tender procedure through the Department of Procurement in awarding a contract to an eligible firm to handle the conveyance of sea mail from Sri Lanka to overseas postal administrations every year, he disclosed.
Airmail however is handled by the department. This service had been outsourced to a private transportation and logistics firm, Civaro Lanka (Pvt) Ltd for a short period in 2013 and thereafter taken over by the department, he added.
The department recently won a silver award from Universal Postal Union, a UN organisation, for its postal service management recently.
The department has been in existence for more than 209 years and employs more than 17,000 employees in various positions. It is one of the oldest government departments in existence today.