Colography Group: Postal Service gains market share in domestic cargo

Colography Group: Postal Service gains market share in domestic cargo    The U.S. Postal Service gained share of the U.S. domestic air cargo market during the first six months in 2005, a phenomenon that hasn’t occurred for many years, The Colography Group Inc. said Tuesday in releasing its mid-year 2005 Domestic Air Cargo Trends report.
   Also in the report is a development the Colography said is an encouraging sign for the future of U.S. domestic air trade — U.S. air shipment growth in the second quarter exceeded growth in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the first time that’s happened since the first quarter of 2001. However, domestic air growth still lagged behind that of the primary air-competitive surface modes (i.e., ground parcel and less-than-truckload), underscoring the ongoing migration of domestic traffic from air to lower cost regional trucking options.
   According to The Colography Group’s data, the Postal Service’s share of domestic air shipments rose to 37.6 percent in the first half of 2005 from 36.7 percent in the same period of 2004. USPS’s gains came at the expense of UPS, whose share fell to 21.1 percent from 21.6 percent, and DHL Express, whose share declined to 10.5 percent from 11.2 percent. USPS remains the market leader in shipment share, followed by FedEx Express with 30.1 percent.
   “Though this is backward-looking data, it should be noted that long-term trends, once established, tend to remain in place for awhile,” said Ted Scherck, president of The Colography Group, in a statement. “Improvement in air volumes over the past several years has been striking, and fast forwarding into 2006 we continue to see upbeat results for domestic air activity. As for the postal resurgence, only time will tell if the market share gains in 2005 is a lasting trend.”