Tehran, July 14, IRNA – The Islamic Republic of Iran Post Company has signed an MoU for cooperation with Germany’s logistics firm DHL and Dutch package delivery firm TNT Express, its chief executive has said. Hossein Mehri said the state-run Iranian company had made the decision “in order to provide better services to customers and compete with foreign rivals”. “DHL, with a fleet of more than 250 aircraft, has the largest and most unique air and ground transportation network. Why should we not tap this potential for better services to the people?” he said, Press TV reported. Under the agreement, Iran Post Company will collect local parcels on behalf of the foreign companies and deliver them to those firms in order to reduce the forwarding time, Mehri added. DHL is owned by German mail and logistics group Deutsche Post, providing express courier delivery, freight forwarding and supply chain services. It has been operating in Iran for years through a representative but its cooperation with the state-run Iranian post company is the first in its kind.
TNT Express is a Dutch express delivery company which collects, transports and delivers documents, parcels and freight across the world. Iran Post Company is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Communications of Information Technology which transports more than 3 million parcels a day. It connects some 29,000 destinations and employs more than 16,000 people. Postal service in Iran has an ancient history, dating back to the Achaemenid era in the fifth century BC when couriers called 'chapars' who rode horses were stationed end-to-end within certain distances to forward royal decrees.