Companies

Posta gets Sh65m for courier trucks in growth drive

posta

A Kenya Posta employee wheels packages from a truck. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Postal Corporation of Kenya has received a Sh65 million loan from the National Treasury to acquire eight trucks during the current financial year.

The trucks will enable the corporation meet its obligation of serving customers through door-to-door delivery while augmenting its digital commerce. This will also help the postman grow its market share in the mail and courier service.

“I am happy to report that The National Treasury has granted approval and authority to modernise and upgrade our fleet for logistics and ICT at a cost of Sh65 million. The funds … will be used for the acquisition of a new fleet of eight trucks during the 2021/2022 financial year,” Dan Kagwe, the Postmaster-General said in a statement.

In the last five years, Posta has embarked on digitisation and fleet acquisition to enhance its capacity in the last-mile delivery service, whilst enhancing the current e-commerce platform.

To roll out the last-mile delivery services to all parts of Kenya, Posta has partnered with Kibo Africa, a manufacturer of quality motorcycles designed in Netherlands and assembled in Kenya.

Fourty new motorcycles were flagged off to add to the corporation’s current fleet of courier motorcycles, to deliver goods and services in the shortest time possible.

In 2019, the number of private courier firms in Kenya grew to 1,027 from 997 in the previous year with sector deliveries up 22.2 percent in the same period, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the postman has identified the logistics sector as a key focus area for revenue growth as the change in consumer behaviour and new shopping trends becomes the new normal, said Mr Kagwe.

As consumers increasingly turn to e-commerce for all their shopping needs, speedy fulfillment and distribution has become the expectation of every online shopping experience.

“Kenya’s e-commerce potential has not been fully realised owing to logistical challenges such as high last mile-delivery costs. The launch of this service will support and strengthen the already existing e-commerce platform in the corporation,” added Mr Kagwe.

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