SL airmail, sea-mail services outsourced

The airmail service of the Postal Department has, since January this year, been outsourced to a private transportation and logistics firm, Civaro Lanka (Pvt) Ltd in a bid to operate it more efficiently and in a cost effective manner, Hemasiri Fernando, Secretary to the Ministry of Postal Services said.

This decision was taken by the ministry to streamline operations as the transportation of thousands of air mail bags to over 20 airlines has become a very cumbersome exercise for the department, he added.

The outsourcing of postal services is being carried out as a worldwide practice, he said adding that the country's 'sea mail' service is also handled by a private company. Civaro, a fully owned subsidiary of Hayleys Advantis Ltd -- the transportation and logistics arm of the Hayleys PLC, has been selected in a transparent tender procedure carried out by a cabinet approved tender board, Postmaster General Rohana Abeyratne told the Business Times.

He disclosed that the company has wide experience in handling Ocean and Air Freight Services, Multi-Modal Transportation, Multi Country Consolidation, Project Cargo Solutions, and Customs House Brokerage.

This company has agents in around 100 air ports worldwide and therefore it can handle the delivery of air mail safely without misplacements, he said. Previously the department had to pay at least Rs. 28 million per year as fines for non delivery of parcels by air due to lack of monitoring facilities. Civaro has a computer screening system which helps to detect misplaced airmails and parcels, he said.

The department will be able to save at least Rs. 70 million by this outsourcing option, he revealed.

He noted that 27 trade unions except the JVP trade union were in favour of outsourcing the service and it was not privatisation of postal service as claimed by this union. A leader of the Lanka Postal Service Union alleged that this privatisation initiative of the department was started in 2007 and the airmail service was handed over to a private company recently.