Logistics Post eyes 25% of Vijayawada's cargo transport biz

Logistics Post, a premium overnight cargo service of the Department of Indian Post, launched in Vijayawada recently, will aim at cornering 25 per cent of the city's Rs 200-crore annual cargo transport business, according to U Srinvasa Raghavan, member, (Operations and Marketing), Postal Service Board, New Delhi.

The centre will initially operate on Vijayawada-Chennai and Vijayawada-Hyderabad routes, and later lift goods from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad and vice-versa, Raghavan, who launched Logistics Post and flagged off cargo trucks, said, adding, it will also extend to customers value-added services such as free pick-up, door delivery and storage of goods before despatch or delivery.

"A future post office concept has been developed to provide customers all Indian Post's conventional and financial services under one roof. The department would soon launch 150 financial marts and the number would touch 300 by 2007. With a central server, the department would plunge into core banking sector by opening postal banks across the country. If necessary, aircrafts would be pressed into service to deliver all products to individual customers."

The business of Indian Post crossed Rs 75,000 crore last year and this year it may touch the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark, he said.

T S Govinda Rajan, principal chief postmaster-general, AP Circle, said that from August this year, the department under Direct Post handled 3 lakh articles, 67,000 speedpost articles and 1,000 registered articles.