International mail, which accounted for 14.4% of the total mail traffic in 2014/15, decreased by 11.6% during the year. The drop in traffic was attributable to the strengthening of the US dollar, which affected outbound internet sales and in turn the mail traffic arising from these sales, as well as an increasingly competitive market. The major destinations for outgoing international letters and parcels were Mainland China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
To enhance customer convenience, we have consolidated our online posting platforms into an integrated platform with expanded functionalities (e.g. preparation of posting and customs declaration forms, access to mail tracking information and mailing account information, etc.) for the full range of bulk posting products. The posting information captured electronically on this platform speeds up mail acceptance at the counter, facilitates timely resources planning at the backend and eases the migration to e-customs. With this new platform, bulk mailers, especially online merchants, are able to manage their postings more efficiently.
HKP participates in the international postal arena to keep abreast of developments in the industry, foster cooperation with other postal administrations and advance our interests.
As a member of the China delegation, HKP participated in the initiatives and activities organised by the Universal Postal Union, e.g. its regular Postal Operations Council Meetings (March / April and October 2014), and the Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU), e.g. the meetings of the APPU Executive Council (September 2014 and March 2015), to discuss the operational, economic and business aspects of international postal service and to share views with global postal partners on postal governance issues and postal regulatory policies.
We participated in a joint UPU-Korea training programme in June 2014 to share our experience in the use of information and communications technology for postal operations with representatives of postal administrations in Africa.
HKP participated actively in the meetings of the Asia Pacific Post Cooperative Management Board during the year to pursue with regional postal partners the development of a new ePacket service, an economical shipping solution with tracking to support e-Commerce.
The Postmaster General attended the Post Expo Asia Pacific held in Hong Kong in May 2014.
The Kahala Posts Group (KPG) is an alliance of ten major postal administrations worldwide, with the objectives of improving service level, promoting customer choice and improving service options for postal express and package services in the network. The Board of Directors met on 4 occasions in 2014/15 with the focus on the improvement of service to Mainland China and the US and exploration of new business opportunity through new product development. The Postmaster General attended the annual KPG CEO meeting in Xi’an, China in September 2014, at which a range of issues concerning enhancement of operation and new service features for EMS were discussed.
In December 2014, a delegation from the State Post Bureau led by Mr Zhao Xiaoguang, Deputy Director General visited HKP.
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