Ottawa - Extra trucks, planes and good weather helped Canada Post deliver the holidays. "It was a very successful holiday period", said Rick Joubert, Director of Canada Post's National Control Centre. "We actually delivered 35,000 parcels on Christmas Eve."
Combining state-of-the-art telecommunications, video display and computer technology, the National Control Centre is the most sophisticated mail monitoring system in the world. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, directing the movement of mail nation-wide. The National Control Centre has become a model for other postal administrations and has attracted the attention of businesses all over the world.
On a normal day Canada Post processes some 38 million pieces of mail and on December 19, 2005 the volume rose to 48.2 million pieces. Virtually every domestic flight in Canada carried mail and beginning December 12, Canada Post ran a separate charter freighter network of some 20 extra flights a week to meet the demand (each charter carried 50,000 pounds of mail).
The regular 150 highway service tractor-trailers ran at capacity and an additional 100 trucks were engaged for the month of December. Additional highway services were added locally across the country on an as needed basis. Canada Post also moved some 100 tractor-trailer loads of mail per week by train during the busy holiday period.
To add to the increased holiday volumes, Canada Post delivered 350 tractor-trailer loads of Elections Canada mail across the country.
Moya Greene, president and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Post said, "I want to thank all of our dedicated employees who once again did a tremendous job of delivering Canadians' mail in time for the holidays."
Heading in to its 25th year of incorporation, Canada Post expects to announce an 11th consecutive year of profitability, among other successes, when it's annual report is released later this year.
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