Express, forwarding and logisticsgiant Aramex is capturing some bulkmail traffic in the Middle East, but hasyet to see direct marketing and otherbulk mailing – the only kind of mailthat is still growing for European andUS post offices – take off to any greatdegree in the region, according to itsCEO Fadi Ghandour.

‘It is not like in Europe or the US,’ he says. ‘Mail is not yet much used for marketing here as it is in the West. Post offices would love it to happen, but it is not there yet.’

Having said that, Ghandour saysAramex is seeing some companies approachingit to distribute bulk mailingsto their customers. ‘Customers arelooking for a one-stop shop. They liketo use us, because we can deliver to thedoor on a guaranteed basis,’ he says.

In particular, Ghandour says customers are attracted by the sophisticated track and trace services that a company like Aramex can offer for mail, something he says the post offices cannot yet match, despite their efforts in that direction. But he adds: ‘This is not a big business, and I would not say there is a huge trend in that direction.’

Aramex also moves some mail trafficfrom its hub in Bahrain to Saudi Arabiaby truck over the causeway, and is heavilyinvolved in the trucking of parcelsthroughout the Gulf region, and asfar afield as Egypt, Jordan and Syria,an area of business that continues toshow rapid growth.

However, while relaxations in Customscontrols have greatly facilitatedthe cross-border trucking of parcels inGCC countries, Ghandour says it hashad little effect on the mail business.

‘Mail never had any complicatedprocedures at the border and so therehas been trucking of mail for manyyears,’ he says. ‘There is not a great new traffic here.’

Nor have the region’s post offices sofar shown interest in using third partyproviders like Aramex. ‘They are notinterested to do business with us; theyregard us as competitors,’ Ghandoursays.

– Peter Conway