April the 4th, 2023 - Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta) has obtained 37 brand new trucks to carry out deliveries as part of the company's continued investment in doing ''greener'' business.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a massive 2,717,474.40 euros (without VAT included) were invested in the purchase of these brand new trucks, and the price of the five-year contract includes maintenance costs, insurance costs and comprehensive Kasko insurance. The newly acquired trucks will replace similar vehicles obtained back in 2017 that have covered a total of 12.5 million kilometres since the beginning of the period of their use.

The new trucks that Croatian Post has obtained have engines that are characterised by reduced fuel consumption, they also have considerably lower maintenance costs and comply with the very strict Euro VI C environmental standards for the emission of harmful gases.

In line with the transformation of their business into a much more sustainable and ''green'' one, Croatian Post is continuing to modernise its entire vehicle fleet by purchasing vehicles that pollute the environment less and enable the more efficient transport of shipments and other types of cargo. Back at the beginning of this year, the biggest procurement cycle of electric vehicles was finally completed.

From October 2022 to January 2023, Croatian Post had its hands on 157 new electric vehicles, and for the first time, the company's delivery vans were included in the purchase. The postal green fleet now has more than 320 electric vehicles, including 114 vans and light delivery vehicles.

Along with the expansion of the green vehicle fleet, Croatian Post is also expanding its own network of charging stations for electric vehicles. So far, it has installed around 40 charging stations, and by the middle of this year there will be more than 80 of them dotted around the country. The charging stations will be located in as many as eighteen cities, from Osijek all the way down to Dubrovnik, which will ensure the prerequisites for expanding their fleet of electric vehicles throughout the Republic of Croatia.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

December 22, 2022 - Compared to December last year, there are as many as 40,000 more daily deliveries. According to Croatian Post, the reasons include the increasing frequency of online shopping and the growing popularity of "Black Friday."

As Poslovni / HRT write, as the number of online shoppers grows from year to year, the volume of work for the Croatian Post also increases. The sorting centre receives up to 100,000 packages per day, so deliveries are often delayed. Almost all sent packages go through the centre in Velika Gorica, and most of them are processed by a machine. Cameras detect the address to which shipments should arrive.

"The machine can sort 15,000 parcels in an hour, from the smallest of 100 g to the largest of 30 kg. The sorting centre works in three shifts. The centre is in operation from 0 to 24, so we manage to deliver everything that comes that day. If we didn't work that way, we wouldn't have enough room for all the parcels," said Krešimir Domjančić, head of the public relations department of Croatian Post.

More packages this December

"We get it all. We have a lot of web shops selling everything from clothes to decorations, lamps, washing machines, televisions, and other things. Not all parcels go through the machine, but all those packed in boxes do," said Irena Majerić, the team leader in the sorting centre.

Compared to December of last year, there are as many as 40,000 more daily deliveries. The reasons include the increasing frequency of online shopping and the growing popularity of "Black Friday."

"The late deliveries make up a small percentage. That is not only a problem for Croatian Post. The entire logistics chain notices difficulties during December due to the increased quantities, so there may be delays both with the supplier itself, with shipping from the store and in Croatian Post," Domjančić told HRT.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

December 20, 2022 - On Wednesday, 21 December, the Croatian Post (HP) will issue the fourth crypto stamp in the form of a postal block with the motif of Nikola Tesla and his tower for the World Wireless System.

As Poslovni writes, the authors of the new crypto stamp are Zagreb designers Ivana Vučić and Tomislav-Jurica Kaćunić, and the stamp with a nominal value of HRK 50.00 was printed in 30,000 copies.
The promotion of the fourth issue of the crypto stamp will be accompanied by an exhibition of Tesla's personal belongings at the post office.

Tesla's glasses, bag, hat, cane, and gloves will be available for viewing from the end of December 2022 until the beginning of February 2023 at the post office in Jurišićeva Street, the press release states.

Nikola Tesla's personal items that will be exhibited in the Zagreb post office are owned by the Croatian Post and form a permanent exhibition at the post office in Smiljan, Nikola Tesla's birthplace, adds HP.
HP finalised the new edition of the crypto-brand in cooperation with the companies BitX and MarrowLabs, as well as with the "Nikola Tesla" Technical Museum.

"By buying a crypto stamp, you get a physical postage stamp that you can use to send parcels and a digital stamp in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT)," they add.

The digital edition of the crypto stamp will be available in five different categories, each with a motif of one of Tesla's inventions.

The digital edition with the motif of Tesla's experiment with an egg in a rotating magnetic field (Egg of Columbus) will have the smallest number of copies available (2,000), while the digital edition with the motif of Tesla's turbine will have the most copies.

Other digital editions will have the motifs of a Tesla coil, a wireless signal transmission system, and a remote-controlled ship.
The new crypto stamp can be purchased in post offices, on the epostshop.hr website and in the online Crypto Center, where it will be possible to pay with cryptocurrencies.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.

September the 19th, 2022 - The Croatian postal market has managed to earn an income of 523 million kuna thanks to positive developments throughout this year's second quarter.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, positive developments on the Croatian postal market continued throughout the second quarter of 2022, and the total revenue amounted to 523 million kuna, the Croatian Regulatory Agency for Network Activities (HAKOM) announced recently. When compared to the previous quarter, revenues on the Croatian postal market increased by 6.3 percent, while compared to the same period of the previous year, they grew by 10.2 percent.

The result was primarily contributed to by services with greater, more added value, as the total number of postal services being carried out actually decreased. As such, in the second quarter, 8.2 million packages were transferred, which is 5.5 percent more than in the previous quarter and 12.6 percent more than last year.

In contrast to parcels and packages of a larger volume, a decline was recorded in letter shipments with one of the lowest recorded shares in the total number of services performed, which amounted to 79 percent in the middle of the year. With the reduction in the number of letters sent and delivered, the share of universal service fell below 50 percent for the first time. When it comes to the Croatian postal market and wider, more specifically international traffic, the number of services was higher by 11 percent.

The number of postal service providers across the Republic of Croatia didn't change, and in the middle of the year there were still 24 of them. The largest provider was of course Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta) with a share of 87 percent in the number of services performed and 58.3 percent in total revenues.

For more on the Croatian economy, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

June 27, 2022 - You see them on the street, you see them on your bills, and you hear them on the phone. Who is who among the Croatian public services and institutions? We'll tell you more in this short guide.

If moving to Croatia is one of your short-term projects, or even if you're already in the process of adaptation, you may have heard of or been in contact with one of these institutions. These Croatian public services and institutions will be part of your daily life here, and it is true that sometimes it can be a bit confusing trying to distinguish them from each other.

In this short guide, we've listed some of the Croatian public services and institutions that you will be in contact with most often, and we hope that this will help you when you don't know where to go for a certain task, or when it's time to do your accounts at home.

MUP

If you're working on getting your residency or citizenship in Croatia, you have most likely gone to a local MUP office. It's also likely that they've called you on the phone or have written you an email or two. MUP is the Ministry of the Interior, and it provides services to both locals and foreigners alike. At MUP, you will also carry out procedures to obtain your passport, your driver's license, your Croatian identification card, and more.

HZZO 

HZZO is the Croatian Health Insurance Fund, it's part of the Ministry of the Health and it includes everything that is related to public health insurance services in the country. As you well know, public health insurance is mandatory if you reside in Croatia. If you wish to enroll in the Croatian public health system, you must go to the HZZO offices in your city of residence. There you can also find out everything related to your health coverage, sign up with a family doctor, and more.

HZZ

HZZ is the Croatian Employment Office, and it serves to report your current employment status, whether you've found a job or if you don't currently have one. At the Employment Office, you can also find job openings that match your skills. 

HZMO

The Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) is a public institution that is dedicated to the implementation of mandatory pension insurance based on generational solidarity (1st pillar of the pension insurance) and the child benefit entitlement procedure.

Porezna uprava

Porezna uprava is the Croatian Tax Administration, and it's a unique and independent administrative organisation within the Finance Ministry whose basic task is the application and supervision of tax regulations and laws on the collection of contributions. Most of your bills will be issued by Porezna uprava. They'll also issue you with tax rebates.

FINA

FINA, the Financial Agency, is a leading Croatian company in the field of financial and electronic service provision. Although state-owned, Fina operates exclusively on a market basis and cooperates with banks, the Croatian National Bank, numerous business systems, and other similar entities. A multitude of payments can be paid at their offices.

Hrvatska Pošta

Hrvatska Pošta is the Croatian Post Office, and it has locations in every city and town across the country. In addition to being the place where you can send letters and packages throughout the country and even abroad, it's also the place where you can pay for your phone, electricity, water, health insurance, and more.

HEP

A state-owned company, HEP is the Croatian Electricity Company and it is the only energy entity authorised to provide a public electricity supply in the Republic of Croatia. It also performs the activities of electricity production and heat production for central heating systems, in addition to the management, maintenance, construction, and development of the electricity distribution network.

HAC 

Hrvatske autoceste or Croatian Motorways Ltd is a Croatian state-owned limited liability company tasked with the management, construction, and maintenance of motorways in Croatia.

HRT

Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) performs the activity of providing public broadcasting services. On their radio and television channels, they dedicate themselves to the dissemination of news, information, culture and other related content. Even if you don't watch their channels or listen to their radio stations, a bill of 80 kuna from HRT will always arrive at your home.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

April the 22nd, 2022 - Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta) has been making headlines for all the right reasons over the last few months, with everything from turning towards the green and digital transition to making huge investments making the news. 

Now, following the openings of new sorting centres and major cash injections, Croatian Post is set to provide a very welcome wage increase of 20 percent to around 8000 of its employees.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, just last week, Croatian Post, one of the largest employers in the Republic of Croatia, made the decision to increase the salaries earned by as many as 8,000 employees in operational jobs by as much as 20 percent this year.

The President of Croatian Post, Ivan Culo, pointed out: ''With all the challenges going on on the market at the moment which have affected our business - further development, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the earthquakes in 2020, our strength has always been our people.

With all of the investments the company has made in infrastructure and digitalisation, which have been made strategically over the last six years, I'm glad that we have made this decision. Our people are competitive on the labour market and it is up to us as employers to be competitive as well. Our employees are our window to our customers and as a company operating in a liberalised market for almost a decade now, we know very well that a satisfied worker is the path to a satisfied customer.''

For more on Croatian companies, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

March the 19th, 2022 - Croatian Post, which is 100 percent state owned, and Finland's equivalent, have found common ground in the fact that they are both involved in a new initiative, The Climate Pledge.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian Post has joined The Climate Pledge initiative - an international, cross-sectoral community of companies and organisations founded back in 2019 by Amazon and Global Optimism. Along with the Finnish postal service, Croatian Post has become the only postal operator to join this initiative in achieving zero carbon emissions by the year 2040 - ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement target.

Currently, The Climate Pledge has more than 300 signatories across 29 countries, and includes 51 different sectors such as transportation, aviation, energy, real estate/property, and information and communication technologies. The signatories of the initiative generate more than 24 trillion kuna in global annual revenue and have more than 8 million employees. Companies and organisations joining the initiative have a key role to play in encouraging investment in the development of low-carbon products and services.

The signatories of The Climate Pledge initiative must agree the following:

That they will regularly measure and report on greenhouse gas emissions
That they will implement decarbonisation strategies in accordance with the Paris Agreement by introducing real business change and innovation, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, reduction of material consumption and other carbon elimination strategies
That they will offset all remaining emissions with additional, measurable, real, lasting and socially beneficial compensations to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040 - a decade ahead of the 2050 Paris Agreement target
That they will undergo a digital business transformation

All of the signatories are taking high-impact science-based actions to combat the ongoing threat of climate change, such as innovation in supply chain efficiency, sustainable transport, the circular economy and clean energy.

Croatian Post, as part of the wider Posta2022 Development Strategy, is intensively implementing the digital transformation of all of its business operations, about which we've written quite extensively and which is closely related to increasing energy efficiency and reducing emissions. Back in April 2021, the Sustainability Management Strategy entitled "Growing Green and Sustainable" was adopted, which includes doing green business and corporate social responsibility and corporate governance.

The strategy defines key areas with specific goals that need to be acheived, and by implementing the Sustainability Management Strategy, the company can ensure long-term stable growth that will also have a positive impact on the environment and all of its stakeholders.

There are more than 200 electric vehicles which make up the fleet of Croatian Post, which include 40 electric four-wheelers and almost 30 electric mopeds. In addition to the continuous expansion of the green vehicle fleet, Croatian Post also set up charging stations for electric vehicles in Velika Gorica, Zadar and Osijek, which laid the foundations for further expansion of its fleet of electric vehicles.

Last year, an alternative delivery channel was opened that will work to further reduce harmful emissions - a network of parcel machines (Croatian: paketomat). Parcel machines increase the percentage of successful deliveries on the first attempt, and delivery vehicles need to visit fewer locations, which significantly reduces emissions.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 15th, 2022 - The brand new Croatian Post Kukuljanovo logistics centre, about which there has been an enormous amount of talk, is now finally open and has provided welcome employment to more than 300 people.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the new Croatian Post Kukuljanovo logistics centre which will work to serve the wider Kvarner and Istria region, worth almost 60 million kuna, was opened last week in the Kukuljanovo Industrial Zone in the Bakar area.

On an area spanning a massive ​​4200 square metres are areas for sorting, the transport and delivery of shipments, a distribution centre and workshops, and a post office, and the new location employs more than 300 people. A modern business centre for Kvarner and Istria will improve the quality of delivery in the area as a whole.

Its construction completed Croatian Post's largest investment cycle, and Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County received one of the four most modern points in the network of sorting facilities in all of the Republic of Croatia, which includes facilities in Zadar and Osijek and a new sorting centre in Velika Gorica close to Zagreb.

The Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic said that he was glad that the company, which is 100 percent state-owned, has been a positive example of business for years and that Croatian Post is on an equal footing with some of the world's largest competitors.

"Thoughtful investments in digitalisation and infrastructure show that the direction of development of Croatian Post is very clearly defined and is the result of a strategic direction towards the future. It's clear to us that both the present and the future of logistics are packages. The trend of strengthening e-commerce was particularly pronounced in the years of the coronavirus pandemic, when online orders grew into the double digits,'' he said.

Global changes, he pointed out, didn't come as a shock or unpleasant surprise for the company and that numerous investments in infrastructure and digitalisation have turned it into a successful modern company that has a great impact on the domestic economy and encourages the development and growth of overall logistics in this country.

For more, check out our business section.

ZAGREB, 11 March 2022 - A new Croatian Post logistics centre for the Kvarner and Istria region, worth nearly HRK 60 million, was opened on Friday in the Kukuljanovo industrial zone in the Bakar area.

The 4,200-square-metre centre has areas for sorting, transporting and delivering mail, a distribution facility and workshops as well as a post office. Over 300 employees work at the new location.

A modern business centre for the Kvarner and Istria region will improve the quality of delivery in that area. Its construction completed the largest investment cycle of Croatian Post, and Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties now have one of the four most modern sorting facilities in Croatia, including facilities in Zadar and Osijek and the new sorting centre in Velika Gorica.

Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković said he was pleased that a state-owned company had been a positive example of business for years and that Croatian Post was on an equal footing with the world's largest posts.

The minister said that global changes didn't surprise Croatian Post and that many investments in infrastructure and digitalisation had turned it into a successful modern company that had a great impact on the economy and encouraged the development and growth of overall logistics.

He said that Croatian Post had nearly 10,000 workers and more than 1,000 post offices, and that its annual impact on the Croatian economy was estimated at half a billion kuna.

The president of the Croatian Post Management Board, Ivan Čulo, said that the opening of the new centre completed the first real investment cycle of over HRK 1.2 billion, underscoring these were their own funds and ideas.

Čulo said Croatian Post was now an exceptionally modern company and that further development was expected.

He pointed out that parcel services were the company's focus and that Croatian Post was one of the highest quality companies in parcel distribution.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 7th, 2022 - A brand new Croatian Post logistics centre worth 60 million kuna is set to open its doors very soon, spanning a total area of 5,000 square metres and boasting its very own solar power plant.

As Novac/Jutarnji/Jozo Vrdoljak writes, on Friday, March the 11th, the new Croatian Post logistics centre will open in the Kukuljanovo industrial zone. The new Bakar-Kukuljanovo business facility, worth a massive 60 million kuna, will have a total area covering ​​almost 5,000 square metres as well as its own solar power plant. More than 300 employees of Croatian Post will work at that location. This investment, with which Croatian Post will complete all of its round of investments in infrastructure, created the proper preconditions for further logistical growth and development of the company itself, but also laid a good foundation for the development of the entire Croatian logistics market.

''The location of the new facility is crucial for raising the level of quality and all logistics work, and the new Croatian Post business facility will be located in a place with very good traffic connections. The facility is close to the Rijeka - Zagreb motorway and the Kvarner road, and the centre of Rijeka is only 10 kilometres away. The Kukuljanovo business facility, which will centralise operations with as many as five locations, is an important link in raising the quality and speed of providing services to all residents who gravitate to this area. This is a link for the raising of the quality and speed of providing services to all residents who gravitate to this area - Gorski kotar, Istria and Kvarner,'' stated Ivan Culo, the president of Croatian Post.

A five-year investment cycle

Over the past five years, Croatian Post has conducted an investment cycle amount to almost one billion kuna in total. In addition to investments in digitalisation, significant funds have been invested in expanding their existing facilities and building new logistics capacities. In addition to investing in Kukuljanovo, their logistics space in Osijek was expanded, a new logistics centre was built in Zadar, capacities were expanded in Bjelovar and a new sorting centre was built in Velika Gorica near Zagreb, which is the largest capital investment in Croatian Post's entire history. The new sorting centre was opened back in 2021 and is the largest capital investment in the history of Croatian Post, worth an enormous 350 million kuna.

''Infrastructural investments in the network of our sorting plants will have a favourable effect on the overall development of the logistics market across Croatia. All of the locations of modern sorting plants are strategically selected and are located in areas that are well connected in terms of traffic and are in line with logistics trends. Previously, such facilities were located in the centres of large cities, and today they're placed on the outskirts along important traffic routes. The number of locations where the operational part of the shipment business, such as sorting and processing, is performed has now decreased. In Zagreb, business with four locations was moved to the new sorting centre, while in Kukuljanovo the business with five locations is centralised,'' explained Culo, noting that the logistics sector had to find a solution to the e-commerce explosion in a short time and radically change established ways of meeting the varying needs of both private and business users.

''It's enough to look at record traffic, as well as at delays in ports all over the world, which are part of the wider crisis of global supply chains. Solutions exist, but they aren't cheap or quick. Smart investments are proving to be the key to success, as the rapid growth of e-commerce and package business, as one of the consequences of the pandemic, has shown just how important investments in technology and infrastructure truly are. Fortunately, we don't have to look for good examples outside of Croatian borders, because this one state-owned company in the coronavirus pandemic showed how to transform business operations in the short term and adapt to the new normal,'' explained Culo.

Culo also made sure to emphasise that Croatian Post, with this, its largest investment cycle in history, started several years before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

''Experience has shown that companies that were in the upward trajectory of their investment cycle were ready for the challenges presented by the pandemic, and there are many examples of companies that have further strengthened during the crisis. For years, modern logistics companies have been relocating their capacities from urban centres to locations close to well-connected cities. Such is the case with this new Croatian Post logistics centre, but it isn't the only modern sorting plant owned by us. Users will feel the results of that investment through an even better service and a guarantee that their turn towards e-commerce will be successfully monitored by the company. A large number of packages arriving every day is nothing new to operational workers, and everything that arrives at the sorting plant continues on the same day towards its final destination,'' said Culo, adding that with the growth of the package business, reverse logistics is becoming more and more important.

For more, check out our business section.