The blue transport stalwart celebrates 30 years: PPL plans a record-breaking anniversary year!

PPL, the leading shipping company, is celebrating its anniversary, having been delivering parcels since 1995. It began primarily as a service transporting parcels between companies at a time when parcel services were a novelty on the Czech market. However, it has long had a firm place on the market and among customers and has won the title of Most Trusted Brand five times in a row.

Over the past 30 years, the company has grown and undergone many changes. "We have come a long way as a company in three decades and have adapted to the rapidly changing world around us. We have had to respond to the advent of modern technology, digitalisation, the COVID-19 pandemic and put more emphasis on doing business responsibly and with consideration for our environment. With the development of our services, Czech e-shops and domestic e-commerce, the volume of shipments that PPL transports each year has also changed significantly," says Petr Horák, CEO of PPL CZ.

While in its early days the company transported around 300,000 shipments a year in the Czech Republic, it can currently handle almost three times this volume in a single day of the pre-Christmas season. Thanks to its connection to the DHL network, it is able to deliver shipments throughout Europe. It was the merger with its parent company DHL in 2006 that launched a new era for PPL, opening up opportunities in international shipping and, together with the growing demand for international shipments, contributing to further growth. 

"Trying to summarise the first 30 years of PPL would take at least one very thick book, more like two. So here I would like to say first of all how proud I am of PPL. To all the people who are behind it and have been behind it in the past, including my dad when he started it. Our blue heart with a passion for parcels has been beating for 30 years now and I just wish that the passion would never fade and the heart would go on like this for at least twice as many years," says Petr Horák. 

 

Growth, digitalisation and automation

While PPL started with seven regional depots when it was founded 30 years ago, today it has 26 depots in its network, plus two central modern transshipment points. The newest one, built in 2022 in Hradec Králové, is equipped with the most advanced machinery and environmentally friendly technologies to help PPL handle an ever-increasing number of orders. For example, the fully automated sorting line there can handle up to 500,000 shipments a day.

"Thirty years ago, when my father and his colleagues started the service, there were no automated conveyor belts; packages were moved manually on simple roller conveyor systems. It was more like a human chain. Today, we are helped by the latest technologies that nobody would have dreamed of back then, which are moving our services forward and speeding them up by leaps and bounds," says Petr Horák.

The company is managing the growing demand for its services thanks to process automation, digitisation and the development of the network and the type of outlets. PPL currently has over 6,700 of these in all regions of the Czech Republic.

 

PPL as an employer

In 1995, when PPL started, it had around 100 employees. Today, the company has over 1,500 employees and works with more than 2,000 drivers nationwide. "It is only because of our employees and drivers that PPL is where it is today. I appreciate everyone who has come through our company over the past 30 years and put their hand to work, and especially those who have been with us since the very beginning," Petr Horák sums up.

This year, for the fourth time in a row, the company received the prestigious Top Employer award for its care for employees and corporate culture. This evaluates, for example, the quality of recruitment, company culture, benefits and other key areas. It also regularly defends its Great Place to Work certification.

 

PPL as part of sustainable logistics

Sustainability is playing an increasingly important role in logistics, and PPL is taking concrete steps to be more environmentally friendly. It sources 100% of its electricity from renewable sources, has started equipping depots with solar systems and aims to have at least 60% of its fleet made up of electric vehicles by the end of the decade. Currently, it already operates about 140 alternatively powered vehicles.

"Times are changing and so is PPL. What remains the same, however, is the passion for the industry and the drive to do our job 100%. I'm already looking forward to what the next few years have in store for us and I'm sure that together we will get there," concludes Petr Horák.