GFS adds Hermes, UK Mail

   U.K. parcel and carrier management service provider Global Freight Solutions (GFS) has added UK Mail and Hermes to its list of partners.
   GFS, a West Sussex-based company, offers free software for customers to deliver and track more than 5 million parcels each year in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Existing partners include CitiPost, DHL, DPD, FedEx, Interlink Express, Nightline, and Royal Mail.
   The addition of UK Mail and Hermes brings GFS’s service coverage an additional 10,000 drivers and couriers, GFS said in a release. UK Mail, making up 25 percent of the new addition, said online retail has been a big boon to its business and has helped its parcel volumes grow 10 percent year over year.
   Hermes UK, based in Leeds, is owned by mail order retail giant Otto Group with about 7,500 couriers that manage 140 million deliveries each year and is reporting a 40 percent year-on-year volume increase during the recent holiday season.
   “UK Mail is the biggest independent logistics firm in the country, while Hermes is recognized throughout the industry as a market leader in home deliveries,” Daniel Ennor, the GFS commercial development director.
   GFS turned 10 years old last year, when it changed its business model to providing parcel and carrier management software available free of charge. The fees for the service are levied on a per-parcel basis.