Andrej Beslać, Director General of company City Express – we travel around the world every day

Belgrade-based company City Express, which is owned by Austrian Postal company (Oesterreichsiche Post) and specialized for collecting, transporting and delivering mail, expects constant growth of turnover in 2008. Andrej Beslać, the Director General of company City Express and a member of Serbian Association of Managers, says in the interview for eKapija that the long-term plan of this company is to increase the market share in package delivery business in Serbia, which currently amounts to 50%, by enhancing the quality of services, as well as to introduce new services in field of transportation and logistics in both Serbia and the region.

- City Express is the leading "door to door" package delivery company. We deliver about 13,000 packages a day. We have 330 couriers who transport packages all around Serbia through the network of 17 distributive centers – Beslać explains and adds that the vehicles of this company travel about 40,000 km on daily basis, which is the same as if one vehicle travelled around the world.

By purchasing company City Express in November 2007, Austrian Postal company expanded its operations to Serbia and Montenegro and, in that way, strenghtened its position in the package distribution market on the territory of east and southeast Europe.

By taking over company City Expres, Austrian Postal company obtained a reliable business partner. Beslać adds that, thanks to innovative approach, know-how and experience of the new owner, City Express is going to introduce new business standards that will raise the quality of services to even higher level.

- We worked hard last year to bring our operations in accord with the standards defined by the Austrian Postal Company. The new owner invested in information technology, training of personnel and security of vehicles. We are currently in the phase of implementation of logistic software that will enable automation of operations. That is the unique program used by sister companies within the Austrian Postal Group. Use of the logistic software will enable on-line tracking and full control of operations. All 330 couriers will have scanners to register received package, and we will also get modern conveyor belts for distributive centers.

As Andrej Beslać explained, the second big investment is business system SAP, which will be put in use in City Express on January 1st, 2009. He pointed out that the company's development depended on skills and know-how of the employees, so that City Express constantly invested in their further advancement.

Axel Sporl, the CEO of the Group of Austrian Postal Company for southeast Europe, and Andrej Beslać (right

- We managed to keep the staff, but we reinforced the management. The aim of our company is enable easier and more efficient work through education of the employees.

Austrian postal operator is present in Slovakia since 2002, it operates in Croatia since 2003 and it entered Hungary this year. The Austrian company also finished the process of takeover of Bosnian package distributor 24VIP at the beginning of October 2008.

Company “City Express“ was founded in Belgrade in 2002 and it is among the first companies that offered "door to door" package and mail delivery services. At first, this company operated only on the territory of Belgrade, while the number of clients and territories significantly grew in the years that followed.

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