Postal Services

Hongkong Post provides reliable, efficient and universal postal services at reasonable prices to meet the needs of Hong Kong and its international postal obligations. Since August 1, 1995, Hongkong Post has operated as a trading fund department. This gives it a higher degree of flexibility in resource management and enables it to respond more effectively to changes in markets and customer needs, improve productivity, efficiency and customer service, and introduce new services to its customers.

    During the year, Hongkong Post handled 1.34 billion items of mail, or an average of 3.7 million items per day, representing an increase of 5.7 per cent over 1999. Some 83.9 per cent of the items processed was local mail and 16.1 per cent overseas mail. Some 11 680 tonnes of letter mail and 2 010 tonnes of parcels were dispatched overseas by air, representing an increase of 5.5 per cent over 1999. The United States, the Mainland, the United Kingdom, Japan and Taiwan were Hongkong Post's major partners in letter mail while Japan, the United States, Canada, the Mainland and Taiwan were its major partners in parcels.

    Performance pledges are published for the delivery of mail, philatelic, counter and public certification authority (CA) services. In 2000, Hongkong Post achieved a very high performance in most of its pledges. In particular, it achieved a record successful rate of 99 per cent in next day delivery of local mail.

    In March 2000, an independent firm was appointed to conduct the fourth annual public perception survey on Hongkong Post's services. The overall satisfaction levels remained high, with some 96 per cent, 95 per cent and 97 per cent of customers in the general public, business and philately group respectively being satisfied or very satisfied with Hongkong Post's services.

    Hongkong Post chose Care from the Heart as the theme for developing its service culture in 1998. To sustain this customer service culture and a spirit of teamwork in Hongkong Post, various activities were conducted during the year to reinforce the momentum of service improvement and to maintain staff alertness in providing quality service to customers.

    Hongkong Post had organised a special programme for its customers, philatelists, staff members and Internet surfers to celebrate the new millennium. A wide selection of commemorative postal products, including a 22-karat gold stamp, the first gold stamp ever issued by Hongkong Post, was introduced in the run-up to the millennium.

    A comprehensive review of some 1 750 mail delivery beats was conducted to improve service standards and productivity, and the Internet tracking service was extended to parcels and other categories of mail.

    To facilitate the development of electronic commerce in Hong Kong, Hongkong Post established the first public and legally recognised CA and launched its certification service on January 31. The establishment of the Hongkong Post CA is the cornerstone of the local Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) development in Hong Kong. The Hongkong Post CA provides a secure environment for the conduct of electronic transactions over open networks. With the use of digital certificates issued by the Hongkong Post CA, parties to electronic transactions can authenticate the identity of other parties involved, ensure the integrity and confidentiality of information exchanged in the transactions, and prevent commitments made from being repudiated.

    In May, Hongkong Post and Pacific Century CyberWorks jointly launched a secure digital message delivery service, known as Websenger, which offers multi-level electronic messaging security and provides users with a high level of control and privacy in message delivery over the Internet. To promote the wider use of digital certificates in the community, Hongkong Post further developed its CA service to support Internet banking services, Internet stock trading, mobile commerce and the Government's Electronic Service Delivery Scheme.

    To enhance public understanding of the security issues in e-commerce and the use of digital certificates, Hongkong Post set up the e-Cert Gallery at the General Post Office in January and opened a promotion counter at the DigiHall 21 of the Hong Kong Productivity Council in February. During the year, Hongkong Post participated in 103 IT expositions to promote the Hongkong Post CA service and to raise public awareness of Internet security.

    In the international arena, Hongkong Post continued to serve as one of the five member postal administrations in the Policy Management Authority of the Advanced Electronic Services Group of the Universal Postal Union. The authority's aim is to develop and maintain consistent certification policy for the development of PKI-based Global Postal Trust Services. Hongkong Post also signed Memoranda of Understanding with overseas certification authorities, including ViaCode of the United Kingdom, ID Safe of Singapore and DigiCert of Malaysia in September. These memoranda provide a framework of co-operation for exploring cross-certification arrangements. Such co-operation would promote cross-border e-commerce and enhance Hong Kong's position as a leading e-commerce hub.

    Serving both the business community and individuals, the delivery network of the international courier and Speedpost services has been extended to 92 destinations including Hong Kong's major trading partners such as the Mainland, Japan, the United States, Taiwan and Australia. A new SpeedpostFreight service was introduced in October to provide customers with the best value-for-money service by sending bulk consignments to all the Speedpost destinations around the world.

    To further enhance the Speedpost service, the network of the Speedpost premium services has been extended to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, as well as Frankfurt in Germany, in addition to Macau and Singapore. Speedpost premium service offers an even speedier and guaranteed delivery of document items to those destinations.

    Following the introduction of Local Courierpost service for local express delivery of documents and packages in 1999, Hongkong Post introduced a new Local Courierpost Premium Service in January to provide guarantee of delivery within 2.5 hours. To meet customers' demand for more flexible and price-competitive services, Hongkong Post also introduced new flexible charges for Local Courierpost Standard Service from August.

    Hongkong Post e-Post service, which turns electronic messages into physical paper mail, continued to grow during the year. This service is being used by both government departments and commercial clients.

    To better meet customers' needs and enhance productivity, Hongkong Post has adopted a retail strategy to offer more agency services in counters. Besides the introduction of a reciprocal remittance service with Philippines Post and China Post in late 1999 and March respectively, Hongkong Post launched in April a PayThruPost service to accept payment of electricity bills at 45 designated offices. This service was extended in July to all post offices (except mobile post offices) and included the acceptance of payment for Towngas bills.

    The new Hongkong Post Logistics service was launched in January in anticipation of the potential growth in market demand for a seamless, cost-effective and integrated one-stop logistics service. It covers a comprehensive range of supply chain management services, including the acceptance of orders on behalf of merchants at post offices and collecting payments from end-customers.

    Seven sets of stamps were issued during the year featuring the New Millennium, Year of the Dragon, Hong Kong Museums and Libraries, Hong Kong Red Cross, Hong Kong Insects, 2000 Olympic Games and Centenary of The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. With the new initiatives incorporated in stamp design, Hongkong Post has brought to the public and philatelists pleasant surprises and novelties. The Year of the Dragon special stamps was not merely the first Lunar New Year special stamp issue in the third series, but was also issued with the first imperforated stamp sheetlet in local postal history. While the 'Museums and Libraries' was the first set of triangular stamps issued in Hong Kong, the 'Hong Kong Insects' was the first set of Hong Kong stamps printed with 480 dots per centimetre to show the very fine details of the colourful insects depicted. In May, the number of post offices equipped with a philatelic counter was increased from 26 to 38 to better serve the needs of philatelists.

    To reinforce young collectors' interest in making stamp exhibits and to promote philately among students, Hongkong Post organised an Inter-School Competition on Stamp Exhibits jointly with the Education Department in March. This competition received a favourable response with over 160 frames of stamp exhibits being featured.

    During the year, Hongkong Post participated in the Stamp Show 2000 held in the United Kingdom, the World Stamp Expo 2000 held in the United States, and 'Meeting the New Century' Philatelic Tour Exhibition and International Stamp & Coin Expo held in the Mainland. In participating these world-class stamp exhibitions overseas, Hongkong Post aims to promote the collection of Hong Kong stamps as well as to enhance their international awareness.

    In September, the new Tung Chung Post Office was opened for business. This office has a new layout and design which accentuates Hongkong Post's progressive corporate image. It has multi-purpose counter units designed to provide more convenient and efficient service to customers.

    Hong Kong has maintained a high international reputation for its efficient postal services. Hongkong Post has participated in the activities organised by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) as a member of the delegation of the People's Republic of China. In technical meetings and activities on postal business not limited to states, Hongkong Post also attended as a separate postal administration using the name 'Hong Kong, China'. The high status of Hongkong Post in the international postal arena can be illustrated by its being elected as a Board member of the UPU Express Mail Service Cooperative (EMSC) and the Asia Pacific Post Cooperative (APPC).

    During the year, Hongkong Post attended a number of international meetings overseas such as the UPU Postal Operations Council meetings and Council of Administration meetings in Berne, Switzerland and the 8th APPU Congress in Teheran, Iran, as a member of the People's Republic of China delegation. In addition, Hongkong Post has participated in the board meetings of the UPU EMSC and APPC, the meetings of the UPU Advanced Electronic Services Group, the UPU Terminal Dues Action Group, the Express Mail Service Contract Negotiation Team, and the marketing workshops held by Asia Pacific Post. Apart from attending meetings abroad, Hongkong Post also hosted an UPU EMS Cooperative Board meeting in Hong Kong in February.