Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta) has stopped shipping small packages from China to Croatia, everything ordered through AliExpress will not be shipped.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 6th of February, 2020, fortunately, the coronavirus epidemic has not yet hit the health of the population in Croatia, but its onset has already hit the domestic economy.

Fuel might well be getting cheaper, but online purchases from China, primarily via AliExpress, has now been discontinued, and Croatian retailers predict that the economic impact of coronavirus, primarily on technological products, may soon be coming in the form of higher prices. Oil prices have fallen below 50 US dollars per barrel (49.92 US dollars), the lowest level in the past year, due to falling demand in China. The world's largest economy is also the world's largest oil importer.

But to curb the epidemic, the Chinese Government is shutting down factories, slowing down domestic and foreign trade, and introducing quarantines, and as such, the demand for oil on that market is falling. Consequently, prices of gasoline and diesel are also falling in Croatia as well. Other economic effects of the coronavirus epidemic will have a bad effect on business in Croatia. For starters, the coronavirus epidemic has temporarily shut down AliExpress's domestic business. Croatian Post first announced that it had received information from KLM, Lufthansa LH and Turkish Airlines that, to prevent the spread of coronavirus, they had suspended flights to China until further notice, and that this would affect the delivery of packages from there.

At the request of Poslovni Dnevnik, Croatian Post confirmed that the delivery of small packages from China to Croatia has now ceased. Therefore, no small packages you order through AliExpress from China will be able to ship to you at this time.

"The postal items from China to Croatia come exclusively by air, and although the carriers have primarily suspended flights because of the passengers, the shipments cannot reach Croatia," Croatian Post explains.

In numbers, this means that from Saturday to Tuesday, more than 100,000 packages, which should have been delivered to customers in Croatia, remained stuck in warehouses in China. By the end of this week, that figure will climb to about 250,000 packages and will not be able to be reduced until they can fly or the Chinese merchants divert air shipping to container shipping.

"About one million shipments come from China on a monthly basis, and the total number of packages has been growing steadily in recent years, by up to 20 percent annually," they say from Croatian Post. They state that this is a direct consequence of the growth of online commerce. However, just delaying deliveries from AliExpress could have a positive effect in the short term, that is, boost the sales of local online retailers. Not in the long run, however, because China is the world's largest factory.

Sime Essert, CEO of Nabava.net, an online service that compares the prices of more than 200 stores in Croatia, says that a real slowdown in direct imports from China will boost domestic online stores in the short term.

"Anyone who works with suppliers who will not be quarantined could profit in this situation or, for example, those who have a supply of limited goods. It's worth remembering the explosion of graphics card prices when the Bitcoin mining mania started," said Essert.

He added that at the moment, they haven't noticed any significant changes in the prices of technical goods, but that this can't be excluded. Essert stated that factories and stores are closing in China, and despite announcing and when they will reopen, it remains to be seen if that will actually happen. However, he points out that prices could also fall.

"Things like this definitely affect supply, but also demand, so it's possible that prices will drop as well," explained Essert.

On the other hand, the prices of certain technological products are expected to rise globally. Informin Tech's IHS service announced that five factories of LCD and OLED screens, located in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic, have been shut down by the Chinese Government to prevent the spread of the virus. China should produce 55 percent of LCDs in the world by 2020. Informa states that, according to initial estimates in February, only a decline in the production of such displays in China could be between 10 and 20 percent, and this will first affect manufacturers of TVs, laptops and PCs.

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Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta) can hardly be accused of being quick and sadly, it's often not reliable at all. Most, if not all people who live in Croatia have a multitude of stories of parcels and letters never arriving, or arriving incredibly late, tampered with, broken... the list goes on, and then on a bit more. Could we finally be seeing Croatian Post leave the dark ages?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of January, 2020, drones have already proven to be extremely useful in crisis situations and in accessing hard-to-reach areas successfully, such as when delivering drugs or antidotes, and some industries have already introduced them to their business, providing an integral role. Drones are now very frequently used in urban planning, geographical mapping, archeology and construction, as well as in various types of agriculture.

A number of postal operators began testing drone delivery several years ago and in spite of high expectations, they still found some shortcomings. However, with the added advancement of free-flying technology, the use of drones is being considered today even for the commercial delivery of shipments.

Thus, Croatian Post has successfully tested the possibilities of drone delivery and made its first delivery from the port of Gaženica (Zadar) to Preko on the nearby island of Ugljan. Along this route, the drone flew autonomously, at a speed of 35 km/h for about twelve or so minutes. It is part of a pilot project with the Croatian company AIR-RMLD that deals with the development of commercial and industrial services using drones.

During the pilot project, the drone successfully delivered what it needed to from Gaženica to Preko a dozen times, and it also flew during a storm. The drone used in Croatian Post's testing can carry loads of up to 200 grams, and it flies completely autonomously along a pre-programmed route. The testing will show the possibilities of using drones in the delivery of letters and parcels between post offices and deal with the needs of Croatian Post for the use of this type of technology.

Today, Croatian Post is testing smart solutions faster and much more often - from augmented reality goggles, pallet transport robots to electric vehicles and drones. Teams are engaged in artificial intelligence, robots, augmented reality, advanced data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT).

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Croatian Post. The very words are enough to send shivers down the spine of anyone who has attempted to receive a package on time, or even at all, especially when said package is coming from abroad. That being said, could a new service improve things? Apparently.

As Novac writes on the 10th of January, 2020, in order to properly provide its customers with a simple, convenient and fast service, Croatian Post (Hrvatska pošta) has introduced the fast package delivery option in its offer - Paket 24.

Croatian Post's brand new service is one that covers the whole of the Republic of Croatia. It stresses that whether the package is going to city or to one of the country's 67 inhabited islands, and the package is contracted through the web application, at a post office or by calling a contact centre, then it will be covered by the service.

In addition, customers can choose delivery times as well as pick up locations for the package, and the service can also be ordered on Saturdays, too. Each shipment can be secured, and Croatian Post also provides services such as cash on delivery, delivery by return receipt, or requesting that the service be paid by a recipient who can track their package on the Croatian Post website in real time.

The new service is part of Croatian Post's strategy, which aims to further develop its core business, improve existing services and develop and introduc more new ones. As part of this, several months ago, a sorting centre was opened in Velika Gorica near the City of Zagreb, which Croatian Post claims to be the best logistics centre in this part of Europe.

Could Croatian Post finally enter the 21st century and end the senseless and outdated process of running around chasing undelivered packages that vanish into thin air? Hopefully.

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