The express transport market - Portugal

1.1 Definition and Introduction

Express carriage is defined as the door-to-door delivery of goods, within a specific country or countries, occuring within a shorter time period than conventional carriage, such as by land, sea, air or rail.

There are three categories of delivery depending on the delivery time:

• Traditional mail, which undertakes to deliver packages between 24 and 72 hours;
• Express mail: the parcel is withdrawn before 18:00 to be delivered D+1 before 18:00;
• Express transport: it requires shorter delivery times and is generally done before 12:00 noon with collection the day before. It ensures that deadlines are met, real-time tracking of shipments and complete management of administrative and customs formalities.

However, the difference between express courier and express transport remains small; often, express courier and express transport are integrated. The global mail market is growing and is expected to continue to develop in the coming years. The express segment is also growing, due to dynamic business-to-business flows and the growth of e-commerce. In Portugal, increased public investment in the logistics sector is one of the main initiatives that will strengthen the growth of the sector. This includes developing transport infrastructure, increasing the capacity of Portugal's main ports, and modernising the rail sector. The mail and parcels market in Portugal is also expected to grow significantly until 2024, due to increased demand for rapid delivery of parcels and documents in the country, in addition to the expected increase in exports.