Infrastructure
Global Carriersl Carriers
Fed Ex / TNT
These two companies have now combined and dependent on the service required and the point of origin, different services may be offered. As examples transit times are shown from the UK and the US:
- Fed Ex – International Priority – 2 business day to main centres – from the US
- Fed Ex – International Economy – 2 to 5 business days – from the US
- TNT Economy Express – 2-day delivery – from the UK
- TNT Express – Next day delivery – from the UK
UPS
UPS offers a range of services and delivery times to the Netherlands subject to country of origin and the specific destination. The example service times below are from the UK from where all the services are available except UPS Expedited (which applies only to non-EU destinations). UPS services are designed for business deliveries and the service times shown are for delivery to business areas. Residential / rural areas may take a little longer and may incur a surcharge.
- UPS Express Plus – next business day – delivery by 09:00
- UPS Express – next business day – delivery typically by 10:30 noon or by 12:00
- UPS Express Saver – delivery by end of next business day
- UPS Expedited – 2-5 business days – delivery by end of day – 2 days from the UK
- UPS Standard – day definite by date scheduled – delivery during the day – 2 days from the UK
The Express services come with a money back guarantee should the delivery be attempted after the specified time.
DHL
DHL offers four service options to Belgium and the Netherlands with example transit times to main centres shown below – deliveries to remote areas may take slightly longer:
- Export Express 09:00 delivery the next possible working day
- Export Express 12:00 delivery the next possible working day
- Export Express Worldwide – Guaranteed delivery by the end of the next possible working day
- Export Economy Select
For ecommerce deliveries it is likely that the most viable option will be Export Economy Select where, by example delivery from the UK is 2 working days.
DPD
DPD offers four main international services to the Netherlands with availability and transit times dependent on the origin of the shipments:
- DPD Direct – a consolidation service with transit times of 3 to 4-days from the UK
- DPD Classic – offers an intra Europe service with delivery typically between 2 and 6 days » 2 days from the UK
- DPD Air Classic – typically offering global delivery in between 3 and 10 days » 3 to 4-days days from the UK
- DPD Express – typically offering global delivery in between 2 and 8 days » 2 days from the UK
Domestic carriers
In addition to the global carriers mentioned (which will also be domestic carriers in some markets), domestic carriers based in the retailer’s own market will often accept online retail orders and ship them to the Netherlands through third parties. Domestic carriers will sub-contract the onward shipment, often to a global carriers or postal service, but for a retailer holding a contract with a domestic carrier this can be a natural starting point for accessing services in cross-border markets. Finding out what options they provide can be a useful benchmark. Service times will vary depending on the line haul arrangements in place and the service partner chosen.
Direct access
Direct access describes a solution used to consolidate volumes from di erent senders to achieve be er air transport rates. Consolidated orders are shipped to the destination country where they are handed to local partners for the final delivery. Direct access operators provide a managed service that can include:
- In-transit tracking
- Customs clearance – often ‘wheels up’ in advance of arrival
- Multiple points of entry – reducing ‘in country’ line haul costs and lead times
- Calculation and payment of duties in advance of order and dispatch
- HTS (Harmonised Tari Schedule) code classification
- Tracked returns – for unwanted and undeliverable items
Where a retailer has sufficient volume to be able to contract with a direct access operator there is the opportunity to get a ‘courier’ level service at less than ‘courier’ rates.
Parcel brokers
Parcel brokers provide retailers a way of accessing be er pre-contract rates through postal operators, global and domestic carriers and direct access providers. Parcel brokers do not offer all carrier options, only those that choose to contract with them and some are more suited to consumer and SME retailer dispatches. For example, companies like Parcel2Go and Parcel Monkey provide this channel into the Netherlands using the likes of TNT, DPD, Asendia, UPS, Hermes and Parcelforce. For larger retailers, bulk brokerage is available to Belgium. A leading broker for these markets is Spring Global Delivery Solutions who consolidate volumes and use their resultant buying power to obtain preferential rates from service partners, creating savings which can be shared with their clients. Brokers may, in some cases simply sell on the services of their chosen partners or, acting in a similar way to direct access operators, can also create service packages.
Integrators
Retailers with a reasonable volume of orders going to the Netherlands may wish to consider the option of parcel management service integrators who can provide immediate integration with a wide range of service providers delivering into the Belgium and the Netherlands market. These will include most of the options above (excluding parcel brokers) and many others. The retailer will need to have or enter into a contract with the delivery service provider but then the integrator will o er the ability to allocate orders to the most appropriate service – using agreed business rules – printing labels and customs documentation, providing tracking and helping to manage returns. For smaller retailers some integrators o er their own parcel broker option that can help obtain better rates. Providers of such services include MetaPack, ITinSell, Consignor and Electio.
In-country fulfillment
Should a cross-border retailer generate suffcient orders to fulfil those orders ‘in country’ then it may choose to hold its inventory more locally. For example, PostNL – the Dutch postal operator, provides a fully managed solution including warehousing and warehouse management, order picking and packing, IT and customer services support with, of course access to a full range of transportation and distribution services