German-based night delivery company Night Star Express will increase its prices by an average of 5.9% from next year onwards across Germany in response to massively rising production costs in the industry.
Due to the different regional cost structures, price increases may differ in certain regions of Germany, the company stressed. The adjustments will be implemented in the first half of 2019.
Like the entire transportation and logistics industry, Night Star Express is exposed to crucial cost drivers, which together increase production costs, Night Star Express managing director Matthias Hohmann explained. "The main reasons are the significantly increased personnel costs and the increasingly tight driver market. If we want to retain good personnel and gain additional workforce, we have to invest more than before."
He said: "The demands on the quality of service have increased enormously in recent years. We want and have to ensure performance-related pay for our drivers if we want to continue offering our customers first class quality. Despite the rising shipment volumes, we are moving in a difficult market environment with continuously increasing material and personnel costs. At the same time, Night Star Express is continuously developing its service and transport quality. And this quality has its price. The price increase corresponds exclusively to an adjustment that compensates for the increased transport costs."
This year, the company already increased ist prices by at least 5% and by up to 8% in certain German regions due to the different regional cost structures.
Night Star Express was founded in 1993 by seven medium-sized German freight companies. The carrier picks up parcels across Germany by late afternoon and delivers them by not later than 8am in the morning. Shipments are delivered to exact and individually prescribed locations, such as car boots, storehouses or depot boxes.
