Jersey hosts global gathering of post experts

More than 40 delegates from islands and small countries around the world have been in Jersey to discuss ways to improve postal services.

It was the first time Jersey Post has hosted the Small Posts and Islands Postal Forum.

The event brought together representatives from similarly sized countries and islands to talk about shared challenges.

Randall Robinson, who represented Grenada Postal Corporation at the forum, said: "Working together we find there are solutions that you can take back and implement."

Mr Robinson added: "Sometimes you don't recognise that there are other people in the same boat.

"We're still very manual and when we see all the automated processes we realise there is some work to do but our people have been doing it for a long time and they're good at what they do."

Sven Kukumelk from Omniva – Estonia's postal service – said there were similarities between his organisation and Jersey Post.

He said: "I was surprised about the level of infrastructure here, when I went to the Jersey Post warehouse it very homely."

Mr Kukumelk added: "We have robots delivering parcels and everything is automated so it's good to share our developments with others."

Thorhildur Helgadottir, from Iceland Post, said islands found they faced similar issues with postal services.

"We're all quite similar so we're all struggling with similar issues," she said.

"We have 93% decrease in letters over the last few years so that hurt but we're increasing the parcel industry in Iceland so we're sharing that with others."

Derek Osborn founded the forum and helped Jersey Post organise this year's event.

He said: "I started this because there are plenty of events for big postal organisations.

"But those from small postal groups would go along and find there was nothing for them."

"The industry has evolved since we started this and letters are declining so we're constantly facing challenges but getting everyone together to compare the challenges is very useful," Mr Osborn added.

Tom Wasilewski, from Jersey Post, invited the forum to the island and opened the event with a speech on strategy and business operations.

He said: "It's very reassuring to hear that the challenges we're facing in this island are shared across the world."

Mr Wasilewski added: "We are part of the international and global postal community and it's important we learn from others and we don't take an island mentality and be isolationist."

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