CROSS-BORDER: CRONOS A t the height of the global Covid-19 pandemic in April/May 2020, the number of passenger flights operating daily had reduced by 95% while demand for e-commerce had increased by 25-30%, according to data released by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and International Air Transport Association (IATA). These two figures had a huge impact on posts’ ability to transport cross-border mail and highlighted the vulnerability of operators’ international networks, which relied heavily on highly competitive air capacity. “Postal operators prefer their cross-border priority and non-priority mail to be sent by air to reduce transportation time,” says Rudy Kwisthout, chief operations officer at the International Post Corporation (IPC). “Leveraging the available belly capacity of airlines provides them with a relatively cheap transportation model. However, it does come with its challenges. “During the Covid-19 crisis, for example, many airlines reduced air uplift capacity and prioritized higher-revenue shipments, leaving many posts with limited to no options to transport their cross-border priority and non-priority mail.” Knud Larn, route manager at PostNord, notes that due to the Covid-19 crisis and limited air capacity, the Nordic postal operator discovered overnight that it could not fly its mail to destinations as normal. “We were certainly challenged!” he admits. The launch of CRONOS THE CONSISTENCY AND RELIABILITY OF A CROSS-BORDER ROAD NETWORK IN COMPARISON WITH THE AIRMAIL NETWORK WAS CLEAR” Rudy Kwisthout, IPC The situation highlighted the need for a cross-border service that uses a ground-based network, with countries working in partnership to deliver mail internationally. “Not long after Covid-19 hit, the IPC was contacted for a solution to deliver mail that had arrived in Europe from the USA, using a temporary trucking network,” Kwisthout says. “The network was created, with limited destinations, and worked as expected for the short time it was needed. “However, the consistency and reliability of a cross-border road network in comparison with the airmail network was clear, and several postal organizations requested to build-out the temporary solution,” he adds. This temporary solution became the Cooperative Road Network Optimisation Solution (CRONOS), which was officially launched by the IPC in June last year. In short, CRONOS is a pan-European road-based distribution network, with intercontinental fly-in options. It builds on the IPC’s Sprinter Network, which uses smaller vehicles to transport priority mail throughout Western Europe. Within CRONOS, lettermail and parcels are transported by vans and trucks from origin posts to destination posts through a dedicated central hub in Findel, Luxembourg. The participating origin postal operators are from Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, France, the UK, Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden, Slovenia and the USA. CRONOS distributes mail product from those countries’ posts to the posts in all the above countries plus Belgium, Estonia, Spain, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. At launch, CRONOS was transporting up to 140 tons of mail per week. However, in the lead up to peak season, volumes rose to an average of 185 tons per week and a peak weekly volume of almost 220 tons. Existing IPC services and solutions are used to support CRONOS. IPC Pallet Boxes, for example, are used to optimize transportation capacity. Visibility is ensured through Pallet Box labels equipped with RFID tags. RFID gates and IPC Mail Registration Devices are installed at the Findel hub to monitor and track each Pallet Box arriving and departing the hub. Compared with airmail routes, the CRONOS network requires one additional transportation day. However, due to the consistency of the road network, the number of late 50 www.ParcelandPostalTechnologyInternational.com March 2024 markobe – stock.adobe.com RIGHT: The cross-border road network initiative was launched in response to increasing e-commerce mail volumes and reduced air capacity during Covid-19