Birthday celebrations at DPD: Germany's first private parcel service was founded 40 years ago

•From Germany's leading shipper of parcels for business customers to a major service provider on the European parcel market

•Every day DPD now transports more than twice as many parcels as in the entire year of its establishment

•Dynamic business growth in the age of digitalisation and e-commerce

Aschaffenburg, 1April 2016 –Today international parcel and express service provider DPD is celebrating its birthday: on 1 April 1976the company was founded as a joint venture by 18 leading freight forwarders. Within only a few years DPD had grown to become Germany's market leader in parcel shipping for business customers. DPD has maintained this position to the present day and – in line with the growth in online retailing – has developed into a major player in parcel shipping to private customers.

In 1976,the year it was founded, DPD already delivered 1.4 million parcels throughout Germany – today it delivers 3.6 million parcels every single day in an international network. The company has continuously developed its profucts and services, with parcel shipping to non-business consignees becoming increasingly important. "Innovation is more essential than ever on today's e-commerce driven market", states DPD CEO Boris Winkelmann, adding:"DPD is therefore taking a leading role in the digitalisation process and is demonstrating its pioneering capacity with innovative services – for example with the notification of a one-hour delivery window, flexible redirection options and map-based parcel tracking in real time."

At DPD digital services are applied several million times a day – not just in Germany but in the company'sentire international network. For example, the exact prediction of a one-hour delivery window is now available in 22 European countries. The essential infrastructure for parcel shipping to non-business consignees is also provided by a closely integrated network of more than 22,000 Pickup parcelshops in 14 countries. On a daily basis 800 distribution depots, 37,000 delivery vehicles and 624 cross-border linehaul operations provide an unparalellednetwork linking the various domestic markets.

DPD took its first steps towards international expansionin the early Nineties, while at the same time it was building up a network in Germany's new federal states. In the course of the company's international growth GeoPost, a subsidiary of France's La Poste, acquired a majority shareholding in DPD in 2001. GeoPost currently holds 93.79 per cent of the shares in DPD, with the remaining shares being owned by DPD Zeitfracht, one of the original founding partners. Today the DPD brand is prominently represented on all European markets in the new brand identity which was rolled out in March 2015 under the DPDgroup umbrella.

Over the past five years majority shareholder GeoPost has increased its turnover by 54 per cent. In the year 2015 one billion parcels were for the first time shipped within the international network and GeoPost registered turnover of 5.7 billion euros – on a like-for-like basis this represents growth of 9.1 per cent on the year before. With an increase of 8 per cent DPD in Germany was one of the main drivers of this growth.

Image:On Germany's roads DPD has now been a familiar sight for 40 years. Today the brand is also present across all European markets.

The image is available in print quality at.

About DPD

DPD in Germany is part of DPDgroup, the second-largest international parcel delivery network in Europe. Throughout Germany DPD has 76 depots and 6,000 Pickup parcelshops. A workforce of 8,000 and 9,000 delivery drivers are in daily operation on behalf of the company’s customers. Every year the No. 2 on the German parcels market ships around 350 million parcels – providing carbon-neutral transport operations at no additional cost to the customer.

Through innovative technology, local knowledge and dedicated customer care, DPD provides the best possible experience for both shippers and shoppers. DPD’s industry-leading Predict service is setting a new standard for keeping customers closely in touch with their delivery, with real time tracking of their delivery, a one-hour delivery window and a range of options for redirecting parcels. In recognition of this innovation DPD received the Digital Transformation Award 2015.

As part of DPDgroup, DPD in Germany has access to over 22,000 local Pickup points across Europe, and delivers to 230 countries worldwide. DPDgroup’s 30,000 people work together to deliver 3.6 million parcels each day. The majority shareholder in DPD is GeoPost (93,79 per cent shareholding), additional shareholder is DPD Zeitfracht GmbH & Co. KG. GeoPost, a wholly-owned La Poste subsidiary, posted sales of €5.7 billion in the year 2015.

Press contact

DPD Dynamic Parcel Distribution GmbH & Co. KG

Peter Rey

PR Officer

Wailandtstraße 1

63741 Aschaffenburg

Phone +49 (0)6021 492-7066