Emirates Post signs deal with Swiss Post subsidiary GATS to route Middle East-bound mail through Dubai Airport Mail Transit Hub

The agreement was signed by Mr. Abdulla Al Daboos, Director General of Emirates Post and Dr. Ulrich Gygi, Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Post International, in Berne.

The deal, valid for five years, authorizes Emirates Post to handle GATS' mail addressed to Middle East countries using the state-of-the-art Mail Transit Hub located at Dubai International Airport.

Commenting on the agreement, Mr. Al Daboos said the partnership with GATS was evidence of the evolution of Emirates Post as one of the most advanced postal corporations both regionally and internationally.

'We are proud to partner with GATS, one of the global pioneers in mail operations and logistics,' Mr. Al Daboos said. 'The five-year agreement reflects the trust GATS has in Emirates Post's ability to deliver high quality services in mail consolidation. The advanced solution we offer at the Dubai Airport Mail Transit Hub has attracted many global operators to partner with us.'

Mr. Al Daboos pointed out that among the major international players using the Dubai airport hub for re-distributing mail bound for the Middle East was British Royal Mail
which sends all its regional mail through it. He said that Emirates Post had put in place a strategic plan to establish world-class infrastructure and offer value added services to mail operators using the Dubai airport mail hub. The objective, he said, was to make the UAE the first choice for distribution of mail to the region. Mr. Daboos said that Emirates Post was in the final stages of signing up with new partners, including mail operators in the United States and France.

GATS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swiss Post International, has been operating its own modern airmail distribution hub since January 2001 from a location close to London's Heathrow Airport. European postal organisations and large companies can now send mail with considerable quality improvements and cost-effectiveness, as a result of the bundling of airmail consignments.

The Dubai Airport Mail Transit Hub, operated by Emirates Post, receives and redistributes mail to various regional countries. Under the hub concept, partner operators dispatch Gulf-bound mail in sealed containers to Dubai, where the individual bags are sorted and forwarded to respective destinations, using computer-based dispatch management systems that capture arrival and dispatch data. This data provides customers with automatic confirmation of receipt and dispatch of their mail. The Dubai Airport Mail Transit Hub, set up two years ago, is becoming the preferred mail routing center for mail bound for the GCC, the Middle East, north and east Africa, the Far East, Australia and India.