The Modern Postal Market in the Light of the Distribution of Postal Services by Sea Freight

W artykule wskazano główne trendy dominujące na polskim rynku pocztowym oraz przed- stawiono rodzaje frachtu morskiego, w tym w szczególności te wykorzystywane przez dystrybutorów usług pocztowych. Wskazano również przykłady zabezpieczeń kosztów i ryzyka, które powinny towarzyszyć frachtowi morskiemu.


Introduction
The purpose of the article is to present trends in the market for postal services and to indicate the efforts being made to distribute them with a particular focus on sea freight.The article will present data from market reports and updated information from industry leaders.The expertise of the author of this article was also utilised.
Mass transportation of goods is of great importance and influence on the global development of e-commerce.Hence, it is the driving force behind many of the world's economies but also the postal services carried out mainly by the CEP stream.The article poses the following research hypothesis: The growth of global e-commerce has a direct impact on the increasing demand for maritime transport.With reference to the stated goal and the hypothesis adopted in the article, the following research question was posed.What tools and methods have been adopted by the postal and transport industry to flexibly shape distribution and transport processes?In an attempt to answer this question, the article presents the characteristics of the Polish postal market, synthetically presents the principles and methods of distribution of postal services, and the essence of sea freight for this market.

Characteristics of the Polish postal market
The postal market in the 3rd decade of the 21st century is constantly undergoing significant and strong changes through external (market) factors primarily such as e-substitution or e-commerce and internal factors such as the adaptation of management processes to new tasks and new service formats.Together, these factors set trends for postal operators' operating strategies and determine the day-to-day operational activities carried out as part of their tasks.The new generation of retailing using stationary and online sales requires an integrated logistics network (omnichannel logistics) tailored to the needs of each individual channel while dynamically managing delivery and providing efficient customer service. 1 In the literature, Aleksander Panasiuk defines the postal market as a process in which postal operators (entities that sell postal services) and buyers of these services (individual and mass customers) set the rules and scope of the services provided.Panasiuk also notes the important role of the state in shaping the market and the rules of its operation, which are expressed, among other things, by guaranteeing the universality of postal services.This is an issue that has a fundamental impact on the market behaviour and responsibilities of the designated operator in Poland. 2 Andrzej Siniakiewicz, on the other hand, defines the postal market as the sphere of trading in postal services, where potential sellers and buyers exert mutual influence on each other, creating the level of demand and supply, and thus shape the price of these services. 3The postal market can also be viewed as the totality of relationships between postal service providers (postal operators) and service recipients (customers).These relations are based on market rules, which must include, however, on the part of the state, a guarantee of the availability of these services for the entire population. 4hus, the analysis of the postal market in Poland allows us to distinguish several groups of entities that make up the structure of the market.These include: -Individual customers as well as enterprises and institutions that are purchasers of postal services, -State-owned and private postal service providers, -Companies and enterprises from other business areas that support the activities of postal operators, -Regulatory institutions (Office of Electronic Communications -Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej, UKE), -The state, which shapes the principles of operation of the market, outlines its economic and legal framework, obliges designated enterprises to perform public tasks, not infrequently also deciding on investment projects in the area of postal infrastructure development; it should be added that the state is also, in many countries, the superior of public postal operators in the sense of owner supervision. 5Roman Czaplewski also distinguishes three basic segments of activity in the postal market such as: a. Communication: movement and delivery of addressed mail, advertising, and newspapers.b.Logistics: movement and delivery of parcels, courier shipments, bulky cargo.c.Retail: a network of establishments providing postal services, financial services and the sale of goods. 6In the context of this article, all three of these elements determine the essence of postal service distribution.The functioning of the European postal market is also strongly influenced by the process of globalisation.It amends the rules of cooperation, leading to the expansion of the scope of entities operating in the Community postal sector to postal markets in other regions of the world.Such a process follows certain defined principles, including: the acquisition of postal networks already operating in other markets -postal networks, the creation of its own non-European network by buying out national or regional postal operators, courier companies, as well as the creation of organisations and agreements with global reach. 7This is caused by the fact that not only the economy or the postal market is subjected to globalisation, but the problems that arise in this market, often also have a global character and need global solutions.In fact, the liberalisation of the European postal market began as early as 1997.At that time, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe issued Directive 97/67/EC, which defined the standard for postal services, authorised the reservation of selected services to the state operator and recommended the establishment of separate regulatory bodies for the postal market in each country.Another 2002 directive, No. 2002/39/EC, contained a plan for arriving at full market liberalisation, scheduled for 1 January 2009, through the gradual abolition of reserved areas in universal service.The 3rd directive of 2008 -2008/6/EC changed this optimistic assumption -full market liberalisation was postponed by two years, and for the new member states by up to four years, to 1 January 2013. 9ince liberalization in 2013, the Polish postal services market has been on a path of continuous development.At the time, it was the site of profound structural changes also observed in other markets in developed countries: declining volumes of traditional postal services more than compensated for by rapid growth in e-commerce shipment volumes.The rate of growth of the total revenues of the operators operating on the Polish postal market has regularly significantly exceeded the rate of growth of the Polish economy as a whole in recent years.This was particularly evident in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, which for the courier shipments segment in particular, as one of the few industries, provided a particularly favourable environment for even more accelerated growth. 10he nominal value of the Polish postal services market in 2021 exceeded PLN 12.8 billion, growing by nearly PLN 1.3 billion compared to 2020.Unlike last year, the increase in the value of the market this time was also accompanied by a notice able increase in the overall volume of completed postal services, which reached a figure of 1.94 billion pieces in 2021, an increase of 3.2% year-on-year.The most important role in the market in 2021 continued to be played -as the designated operator -by Poczta Polska S.A., which provided 1,174.2 million services in domestic and foreign streams (60.7% share of total volume), which translated into PLN 5,154.6 million in revenue (40.0%share of total revenue).With respect to the previous year, the volume of services provided by the designated operator decreased by 7.2% and the value of revenues fell by 3.3%.In 2021, alternative operators provided a total of 760.9 million services in domestic and foreign trade (39.3% share of total volume), which translated into PLN 7,736.0 million in revenue (60.0%share of total revenue).With respect to the previous year, the volume of services provided by alternative operators increased by 24.8% and the value of revenues rose by 23.0%.Letter mail remained the most popular service in 2021, as in previous years, with 975.7 million pieces delivered, but this represented a 7.5% decrease compared to 2020, and translated into PLN 3,419.6 million in revenue (a 3.5% decrease).Meanwhile, deliveries of courier and traditional postal parcels totaled 805.2 million pieces in the year under review (an increase of 21.0%), which generated PLN 8,610.5 million in revenue (an increase of 18.6%), which means that 2021 was another consecutive year in which an increase in revenue from these services was observed. 11The key drivers of the change in the value of the Polish postal services market are presented in Figure 1.Despite such increases, the Polish postal services market has significant prospects for further growth.E-commerce industry analysts claim that growth trends, albeit at a more modest rate than in the pandemic, will continue even after the pandemic ends, which will translate into demand for courier services.If forecasts about the growth dynamics of the value of the Polish e-commerce market prove true, the volume of courier shipments in the next 2-3 years may even increase to a value already in the range of 0.9-1 billion shipments per year.
To summarise this analytical part, Table 1 presents the largest operators in Poland in the field of CEP shipments in 2021 in terms of generated revenue and volumes.The above shows that the national postal operator in terms of volume handled ranked 3rd in 2021 while in terms of revenue it only ranked 6th.This undoubtedly demonstrates the strong competition in the courier market and the dominance of operators who are not obliged to bear the costs of providing universal postal services.The above table is also intended to show the position of the Polish national postal operator against the background of global market players who mainly serve the CEP market.
When analysing the postal services market, it should be noted that a very important factor is the progressive process of e-substitution caused by the technological revolution, which has had a gigantic impact on changes in the way we communicate -from the replacement of paper bills for the provision of various services with their electronic versions, to new forms and tools of communication, such as smartphones.Changes in this area are occurring so rapidly that e-mail is now becoming more of a tool used exclusively in business or public administration and local government, rather than in interpersonal communication, where it is increasingly being replaced by instant messengers (e.g., WhatsApp) or social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
As a result, it is not profitable for private companies to invest in the letter services market, which is shrinking every year.
In a liberalised postal market, however, operators pursue the most valuable institutional customers, guaranteeing bulk mailings in the thousands or millions, as well as e-commerce customers. 13This is now the basis for any post office to run a stable business.To illustrate the mega trends, Figure 3 presents a summary of the value of global e-commerce, which includes the potential of each world region in this area in 2020.Such statistics undoubtedly determine the choice of means of transportation of ordered goods and their further distribution to the final customer.And according to the Global Ecommerce Forecast 2021 report, after global e-commerce grew 25.7% in 2020 to USD 4.213 trillion, analysts expect global e-commerce retail sales to grow another 16.8% in 2021 to USD 4.921 trillion.As in 2020, the Asia-Pacific region and North America led the regional e-commerce retail sales rankings in 2021.China's excessive role means that the Asia-Pacific region will account for 60.8% of global e-commerce retail sales in 2021.North America will have a 20.3% share and Western Europe 12.6%.
Rapid technological change has forced postal operators to adapt their services to the needs of the information society, take advantage of new economic opportunities and pay more attention to emerging and rapidly-growing direct and indirect competition. 14Postal services are, therefore, services of general economic interest.They are an important communication tool, providing social benefits.They are also an important element of communications and trade15 and a response to the development of worldwide globalisation.

Distribution of postal services
The postal service is primarily the performance in domestic or cross-border traffic of activities carried out jointly or separately involving, among other things, the acceptance, sorting, movement and delivery of postal items.The activities refer to the operational recognition of the postal item.This service, due to its widespread use, utilises various modes of transportation that offer the relatively lowest price compared to the proposed postal service.In general, the choice of transportation depends not only on the economically-reasonable value, but depends largely on the timing of its delivery and the operational capabilities of postal operators.The quality of the postal service, on the other hand, is expressed in the fulfilment of expectations in relation to the time of delivery.
With regard to the distribution of postal services, it is important to emphasise the importance also of the role of the performance of the universal postal service for which the Designated Operator in Poland is responsible.It is selected for a period of 10 years by the President of the Office of Electronic Communications, by decision, from among postal operators selected through a competition announced by the President of the Office of Electronic Communications.Poczta Polska S.A. was designated to provide universal service from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2025. 16Here, it is necessary to outline the scope of their provision, as well as other responsibilities that come with the role of the National Postal Operator to citizens.As a consequence of the above, the parameter of accessibility can be considered from several perspectives as spatial accessibility,17 temporal accessibility18 and economic accessibility, 19 which undoubtedly defines the aspect of postal service distribution capability.
Spatial and temporal accessibility are defined in detail in the Regulation of the Minister of Administration and Digitisation of 29 April 2013.The regulation provides a detailed method for the distribution of post offices of the designated operator (i.e., the conditions for accessibility to universal service in the national territory, which have already been referred to when analysing the essence of the universal service, i.e.: 1.One permanent office of the designated operator, when counting a mean for the country, per 6,000 citizens in towns and cities. 2. One office of the designated operator, when counting a mean for the country, per area of 85 km 2 in rural settings.3.At least one permanent post office of the designated operator should be opened in each municipality.4. Post offices of the designated operator should be open on all working days, except Saturdays, at least 5 days a week, and if the week includes a public holiday, the number may be correspondingly lower.In addition, according to the cited regulation, the designated national postal operator provides at least one emptying of the outgoing mailbox and delivery of mail at least every working day and no less than 5 days a week.
The President of the Office of Electronic Communications may by decision establish, ex officio or at the request of the designated operator, a derogation from the obligation to provide universal service in a specific area. 20When making such a decision, the President of the Office of Electronic Communications takes into account the factors determining the conditions for the provision of universal service in a given area, in particular: 1.Current demand for universal service, 2. Geographic conditions which have a significant impact on making postal communication with human habitats difficult, 3. Population density in the area, 4. Profitability of universal service.As previously mentioned, postal services are carried out in domestic traffic, with their distribution taking place mainly by means of vehicles such as bicycles, mopeds, vehicles up to 3.5 t and over 3.5 t, and is carried out by employees in the positions of drivers, letter carriers and couriers.International shipments, on the other hand, encompass the area of a minimum of two countries.These usually involve continental areas or the entire world.In this case, it is a network of transport links employing each mode of transport.Considering in particular the distribution of postal services in the international aspect, attention should be paid to the mentioned trends in this market, i.e., globalisation enabling the dynamic development of e-commerce, in particular on the Asia-Europe route.In this regard, we are dealing with two axes of major transport routes: The Silk Road from China to Europe by rail21 and the maritime route, whose general characteristics will be outlined later in the article.

Sea freight
Apart from the carriage itself, sea freight can also include the formalities of arranging transport as well as loading and unloading and, naturally, the preparation of customs documentation.A freight forwarder can also arrange for the storage of goods, as well as their distribution.Clearly, all these services affect the total cost.Also worth noting is that freight now refers to more than just ships, and the term is also used in the context of air, rail and truck transport 22 .Maritime transport plays and will continue to play a fundamental role in global and European trade and the economy.77% of European external trade and 35% of overall trade between EU member states is carried out by sea.Maritime transport is therefore a key component of the international supply chain.In spite of a decline in shipping activity in 2020, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector is anticipated to grow strongly in the coming decades, fueled by increasing demand for products. 23he maritime economy is also likely to become one of the drivers of economic growth in Europe over the next several years.This is also the perspective of the European Union, recognising in the blue economy the potential to improve the economic situation of member states, including Poland.Blue growth should take place under conditions of sustainable development, which means improving economic performance whilst taking care of the environment, employees and local communities. 24We should emphasise that maritime transport is among the most popular modes of transport for the procurement of goods for the automotive industry, machinery, components, cars, raw materials and e-commerce service, a natural associate of the postal service.
There are several types of maritime transport in the forwarding of the above--mentioned industries, i.e.: -Full Container Load (FCL), -Less Container Load (LCL), -Multimodal Transport (carriage of goods using two or more modes of transport, e.g., air transport, road transport, rail transport). 25xamining the types of maritime transport in more detail, we can distinguish cabotage which covers all ports of a country.It is essential for a territory characterised by a particularly long coastline, where it can be used as a means of internal transport.This mainly concerns China and the US.Linear services, which include transport from port to port "in a straight line."This is exceptionally important for regular shipping of e-commerce shipments.There is also tramp shipping, which is the inverse of linear.It mainly applies to incidental transports representing an alternative, mainly to vehicles.It is employed for very large loads and mainly when standard modes of transport are inefficient.
Thus, maritime transport is a type of transport in which time is of secondary importance.It is applied in courier, logistics services for the transportation of high-volume consignments or shipments of unusual dimensions, where other means of transport are excluded. 26It should be noted that Polish seaports have an increasingly important role in the development of sea-land intermodal transport chains.Particularly noteworthy are the container terminals within ports due to the wide range of investments and the very high growth rate of container turnover in recent years.The increase in sea freight from the Far East also creates opportunities for both the development of seaports, such as Gdańsk, as natural hubs for handling container cargo in Central and Eastern Europe. 27n this context, it also seems important to refer to the forecasts of global demand for cargo transportation in each transport industry in Poland until 2030,28 as included in Table 2. Maritime transport is considered one of the fastest growing.It is estimated that between 2015 and 2030, transport will increase from about 44% to 56%, depending on how transport is measured.This perspective is reflected in the behaviour of market players.
Sea freight services are one of the core services offered by leading postal operators.
The increased interest is attributable to, among other things, the need to reduce transaction costs, as well as the growth of international trade.International business and trade are largely dependent on global shipping, which, as part of the logistics chain, determines the efficiency of global trade.The dominant enterprises in the field of global distribution of postal services, including the CEP segment whose rapid development is ensured by e-commerce, are global brands that provide diversified services in this area, making use of, among other things, maritime transport.Analysing the Report on the State of the Postal Market in Poland in 2021, courier shipment volumes, especially in cross-border traffic, including those transported by sea, accounted for less than 5% in 2021, as shown in Table 3.In the period under review, the courier market grew steadily, both in terms of volume and revenue, in both domestic and cross-border traffic.The largest increases were observed in 2020, i.e., the year in which many restrictions were imposed on social and economic life following the COVID-19 pandemic.
We should also note that the most popular direction from which general cargo is transported is China.Maritime transport dominates here.In this case, there is no requirement to load at least one specially-dedicated container.Individual consumer orders -parcels can also be located with other goods in a container.Such transport to Poland takes between 33 and 45 days.Shipments from China by sea usually arrive at the port of Gdynia, 30 then undergo a customs procedure.The postal operators also receive shipments to Poland from German or Benelux ports.However, the total transport costs may be higher in this case.Thus, sea freight is reserved for cargo for which the addressee does not expect delivery earlier than 30 days from the ship's departure from a Chinese port and the goods do not belong to the "time-sensitive" group.Moreover, an essential component of the transaction in addition to the price and commodity specifications are the terms of transport, i.e., who pays for the transport, or how costs and risks are shared between the counterparties.In this context, the answer is the Incoterms®, which are not legally required, although highly recommended.Freight forwarders and transport enterprises are excluded from the application of the terms.The Incoterms® cannot override any obligations or rightsthey are only part of the entire export contract.Price, method of payment, transfer of ownership, breach of contract and product liability are all issues that must be addressed in a sales contract.Priority over Incoterms® will always rest with local or international legal standards.31Of the 11 current Incoterms® 2020, four are dedicated exclusively to maritime and inland waterway transportation i.e., FAS (Free Alongside Ship), FOB (Free on Board), CFR (Cost and Freight), CIF (Costs, Insurance and Freight).The remaining terms can be applied to all modes of transportation.Whereas, if there is any discussion of risks in maritime transport, it is certainly necessary to mention maritime insurance as well."General average" is the decision of a ship's captain to sacrifice part of the cargo or ship or to incur extraordinary expenses in order to save from imminent danger all the property engaged in a sea expedition.The cost of general average is borne pro rata by each owner of the saved cargo.It is described in law in the Maritime Code, while the specific terms and conditions should be included in the contract of carriage by sea.The tool for determining the extent of general average is the so-called York-Antwerp Rules."Particular average," on the other hand, is the damage suffered by a ship or cargo during a sea voyage due to some event (accident), in addition to ordinary damage (caused by wear and tear) and damage related to general average, particular average can be attributable to: acts of God or culpable acts of persons (errors in navigation, theft, etc.), natural properties or defects in the substance of the cargo carried.The consequences of a particular average are incurred by the owner of the goods and the shipowner.
Thus, in the activities of all maritime transport operators, extensive measures can be observed to reduce the risks involved.In addition, the potential as well as the opportunities for the continued development of maritime transport in postal operations were identified.Special attention is paid below to selected market players offering sea freight as part of the distribution of postal services.

Selected examples of sea freight organisers for postal services
Sea freight is particularly popular because of its cost-effectiveness.On top of that, as already mentioned, sea freight is the cheapest of the available options for shipping bulk goods in intercontinental transport.In addition, shipments of various dimensions, including oversized, can be transported by sea.Thus, the logistics market offers many solutions focused on international exchange of postal items but also its strength is the global companies in the industry.
The DHL Group is an example of a maritime freight leader in the postal industry, leveraging the option of full container load (FCL), shipping by sea to provide customers with reliable, flexible and cost-effective transportation around the world.It offers tailor-made alternatives for the transportation of all kinds of goods using different types of equipment and capacities.As part of its worldwide network, it operates 45,000 connections through nearly 2,800 scheduled direct voyages per week, reaching all major ports and inland transshipment points.Thus, it can ensure predictability of the supply chain, deadlines and commitments to end customers. 32nother player in the sector is FedEx.As part of its comprehensive international shipping program, FedEx Trade Networks offers sea freight services connecting North America, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the Middle East.Taking advantage of the capabilities of regional marine terminals, wide sailing opportunities each week and privileged relationships with multiple shipowners, it maximises transportation flexibility while keeping costs in check. 33n the other hand, GlobKurier Freight & Forwarding has a rich logistical background consisting of experienced freight forwarders and logisticians who organise the shipment or collection of cargo and goods in cooperation with courier companies even from the farthest corners of the world in a maximally-optimised time providing services related to, among other things, freight transport by sea, rail, road and air. 34ellmann Worldwide Logistics Polska, which is actually hard to call a transport or courier entity, is one of the largest international logistics service providers that handles a very wide range of maritime transportation of mainly large shipments.We should also emphasise that each of the presented companies provides customs and forwarding services, as part of their services.

1
Anna Drab-Kurowska and Michał Kuściński, "Postal market solutions in the context of digital economy and megatrends.Example of the Polish market," in: Innovation Management and Information Technology Impact on Global Economy in the Era of Pandemic: Proceedings of the 37th International Business Information Management Association Conference (IBIMA) 37, ed.Khalid S. Soliman (Granada: International Business Information Management Association, 2021), 8613. 2 Aleksander Panasiuk, Elementy marketingu usług pocztowych (Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego, 2000), 29.

Figure 1 .Figure 2 .
Figure 1.The key drivers of the change in the value of the Polish postal services market (PLN million) Source: Raport o stanie rynku pocztowego w 2021 roku, 16.

Table 2 .
Global cargo services demand forecast by 2030